UPTAKE AND BIOTRANSFORMATION OF TRICHLOROETHYLENE BY HYBRID POPLARS

Poplar trees were found to be capable of taking up trichloroethylene ( TCE) and degrading it to several known metabolic products: trichloroet hanol, trichloroacetic acid, and dichloracetic acid. Poplars were also shown to transpire TCE in measurable amounts. To eliminate the bi pos sibility that the degradation we observed was produced solely by rhizo sphere organisms, axenic poplar tumor cell cultures were tested; the c ultures produced the same intermediate metabolic products. When dosed with [C-14]TCE, cell cultures also produced low levels of radiolabeled carbon dioxide and a labeled insoluble residue. These results show th at significant TCE uptake and biotransformation occurs in poplar, whic h demonstrates the potential for the use of poplars for in situ remedi ation of TCE.