Publications

• Pritchard Moore O, Little J, Rylott EL (2026) Relational Map of Plant Synthetic Biology in the UK. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19291106

• Rylott EL & Ent AvdE (2025) Harnessing hyperaccumulator plants to recover technology-critical metals: where are we at? Invited Viewpoint review for New Phytologist doi:10.1111/nph.20449.

• Oates NC, Nay, ER, Cary, TJ, Rylott EL, Bruce NC (2024) New weapons explosive exhibits persistent toxicity in plants. Nat. Plants. doi.org/10.1038/s41477-024-01863-0.

• Loskarn M, Harumain ZAS, Dobson JA, Hunt AJ, McElroy CR, Klumbys E, Johnston E, Sanchez Alponti J, James Clark JH, Maathuis FJM, Bruce NC, and Rylott EL, (2024) Controlling In Planta Gold Nanoparticle Synthesis and Size for Catalysis. Env Sci & Tech 58 (22), 9714-9722 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c00266.

• Ent AvdE & Rylott EL (2024) Inventing hyperaccumulator plants: improving practice in phytoextraction research and terminology, Int. J. Phytoremediation, 26, 1379–1382 DOI: 10.1080/15226514.2024.2322631 (Most highly cited Int. J. Phytoremediation paper 2024).

• Zheng H-X, Liu W-S, Sun D, Zhu S-C, Li Y, Yang Y-L, Liu R-R, Feng H-Y, Cai X, Cao Y, Xu G-H, Morel JL, Van Der Ent A, Ma LQ, Liu Y-G, Rylott EL, Qiu R-L, and Tang Y-T (2023). Plasma-Membrane-Localized Transporter NREET1 is Responsible for Rare Earth Element Uptake in Hyperaccumulator Dicranopteris linearis. Env Sci & Tech 57 (17), 6922-6933 doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c09320.

• Johar P, Rylott EL, McElroy CR, Matharu AS, Clark JH (2023). Biologically bound nickel accelerated depolymerization of polyethylene to high value hydrocarbons and hydrogen. RSC Sustainability, 1: 117-127 https://doi.org/10.1039/d2su00001f.

• Rylott and Bruce NC (2022) Plants to mine metals and remediate land. Science, 377: 1380-1381 doi/10.1126/science.abn6337.

• Johar P, Rylott EL, McElroy CR, Matharu AS, Clark JH (2022). Biologically bound nickel accelerated depolymerization of polyethylene to high value hydrocarbons and hydrogen. RSC Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1039/d2su00001f

• Johar P, McElroy CR, Rylott EL, Matharu AS, Clark JH (2022). Biologically Bound Nickel as a Sustainable Catalyst for the Selective Hydrogenation of Cinnamaldehyde. Appl Catal B, 121105 doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2022.121105

• Johar P, McElroy CR, Rylott EL, Matharu AS, Clark JH (2022). Biologically Bound Nickel as a Sustainable Catalyst for the Selective Hydrogenation of Cinnamaldehyde. Appl Catal B, 121105 doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2022.121105

• Cary, TJ, Rylott EL, Zhang L, Routsong RM, Palazzo AJ, Strand SE & Bruce NC. (2021) Field trial demonstrating phytoremediation of the military explosive RDX by XplA/XplB-expressing switchgrass. Nature Biotech. doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-00909-4.

• Johar P, Rylott EL, McElroy CR, Matharu AS, Clark JH (2021) Phytocat – a bio-derived Ni catalyst for rapid de-polymerization of polystyrene using a synergistic approach. Green Chem., Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/D0GC03808C

• • Rylott EL, Bruce NC. (2020) How synthetic biology can help bioremediation. Curr Opin Chem Biol 14: 86-95 doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2020.07.004.

• • Summerton L, Clark JH, Hurst GA, Ball PD, Rylott EL, Carslaw N, Creasey J, Murray J, Whitford J, Dobson B, Sneddon HF, Ross J, Metcalf P, McElroy CR (2019) Industry-Informed Workshops to Develop Graduate Skill Sets in the Circular Economy Using Systems Thinking. J Chem Educ 96: 2959-2967 doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00257.

  • Williams EM, Sharrock AV, Rylott EL, Bruce NC, MacKichan JK, Ackerley DF (2019) A cofactor consumption screen identifies promising NfsB family nitroreductases for dinitrotoluene remediation. Biotech Letters 41: 1155-1162 doi.org/10.1007/s10529-019-02716-z.

  • Rylott EL, Bruce NC. (2019) Right on target: using plants and microbes to remediate explosives. Int J Phytoremediation 21: 1051-1064 doi.org/10.1080/15226514.2019.1606783.

  • High KH, Ashton PD, Nelson M, Rylott EL, Thomas-Oates JE, Hodson ME (2019) New approaches using mass spectrometry to investigate changes to cytokinin and abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations in soil. Soil Biol & Biochem 135: 108-116 doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2019.04.017.

• • Tzafestas K, Ahmad L, Dani MP, Grogan G, Rylott EL*, and Bruce NC* (2018) Structure-guided mechanisms behind the metabolism of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene by glutathione transferases U25 and U24 that lead to alternate product distribution. Frontiers Plant Sci 9:1846 doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01846.

  • Doroshenko A, Budarin V, McElroy R, Hunt AJ, Rylott EL, Anderson C, Waterland M, Clark J (2018) Using in vivo nickel to direct the pyrolysis of hyperaccumulator plant biomass. Green Chemistry 21:1236 – 1240 doi: 10.1039/c8gc03015d. 

  • Zhang L, Rylott EL, Bruce NC, Strand SE. (2018) Genetic modification of western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii) for the phytoremediation of RDX and TNT. Planta 249:1007-1015 doi.org/10.1007/s00425-018-3057-9.

• • Sabir KD, Grosjean N, Rylott EL, Bruce NC. (2017) Investigating differences in the ability of XplA/B-containing bacteria to degrade the explosive hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX). FEMS Microbiol Lett doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnx144.

  • Zhang L, Rylott EL, Bruce NC, Strand SE. (2017) Phytodetoxification of TNT by transplastomic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) expressing a bacterial nitroreductase. Plant Mol Biol. doi.org/10.1007/s11103-017-0639-z.

  • Harumain ZA, Parker HL, Muñoz García A, Austin MJ, McElroy CR, Hunt AJ, Clark JH, Meech JA, Anderson CW, Ciacci L, Graedel TE, Bruce NC, Rylott EL. (2017) Towards financially viable phytoextraction and production of plant-based palladium catalysts. Environ Sci Technol. doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b04821.

• Tzafestas K, Razalan MM, Gyulev I, Mazari AMA, Mannervik B*, Rylott EL*, Bruce NC* (2016) Expression of a Drosophila glutathione transferase in Arabidopsis confers the ability to detoxify the environmental pollutant, and explosive, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene New Phytologist doi: 10.1111/nph.14326. doi.org/10.1111/nph.14326.

• Ahmad L, Rylott EL, Bruce NC, Leech A, Edwards R, Grogan G* (2016) Structural evidence for Arabidopsis glutathione transferase F2 functioning as a transporter of small organic ligands" FEBS Open Bio doi.org/10.1002/2211-5463.12168.

• Zhang L, Routsong R, Nguyen Q, Rylott EL, Bruce NC and Stuart Strand SE* (2016) Expression in grasses of multiple transgenes for degradation of munitions compounds on live fire training ranges. Plant Biotechnology doi.org/10.1111/pbi.12661.

• Johnston EJ*, Rylott EL*†, Beynon E, Lorenz A, Chechik V, Bruce NC,†. *joint first authors,† corresponding authors. (2015) Monodehydroascorbate reductase mediates TNT toxicity in plants. Science 349(6252): 1072-1075 doi.org/10.1126/science.aab3472.

• Rylott EL, Johnston EJ and Bruce NC (2015) Advances in Transgenic Phytoremediation Technologies for Persistent Organic Pollutants Invited Darwin Review 66: 6519-33 doi/10.1126/science.abn6337.

• Rylott EL, Gunning V, Tzafestas K, Sparrow H, Johnston EJ, Brentnall A, Potts JR, and Bruce NC (2014) Phytodetoxification of the environmental pollutant and explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene. Addendum Plant Signal Behav 10:1, e977714 doi.org/10.4161/15592324.2014.977714.

• Rylott EL. (2014) Endophyte consortia for xenobiotic phytoremediation: the root to success? Plant and Soil 385(1-2):389-394 doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2296-1.

• Chong CS, Sabir DK, Lorenz A, Bontemps C, Andeer P, Stahl DA, Strand SE, Rylott EL, Bruce NC. (2014) Analysis of the xplA/B containing gene cluster involved in the bacterial degradation of the explosive hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 80(21):6601-10 doi.org/10.1128/aem.01818-14.

• Taylor AT, Rylott EL, Anderson CWN and Bruce NC (2014) Investigating the toxicity, uptake, nanoparticle formation and genetic response of Arabidopsis thaliana to gold. PLoS One 9(4):e93793. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093793.

• Gunning V, Sparrow H, Tzafestas K, Johnston EJ, Brentnall A, Potts JR, Rylott EL† and Bruce NC† (2014) † joint corresponding authors. Arabidopsis glutathione transferases U24 and U25 exhibit a range of detoxification activities with the environmental pollutant and explosive, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene. Plant Physiology 165(2):854-865 doi.org/10.1104/pp.114.237180.

• Parker HL, Rylott EL, Hunt AJ, Dodson JR, Taylor AF, Bruce NC and Clark JH (2014) Supported palladium nanoparticles synthesized by living plants as a catalyst for Suzuki-Miyaura reactions. PLoS One e87192. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0087192.

• Hunt, AJ, Anderson CWN, Bruce NC, Muñoz García a, Graedel T, Hodson M, Meech J, Nassar N, Parker HL, Rylott EL, Sotiriou K, Zhang Q and Clark JH (2013) Phytoextraction as a tool for green chemistry. Green Processing and Synthesis 3: 3-22

• Lorenz A, Rylott EL, Strand SE and Bruce NC (2013) Towards engineering degradation of the explosive pollutant hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine in the rhizosphere. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 340(1): 49-54

• Schückel J, Rylott EL, Grogan G and Bruce NC (2012) A gene-fusion approach to enabling plant cytochromes P450 for biocatalysis. Chembiochem. 13: 2758-63 (selected for F1000Prime www.f1000.com)

• Rylott EL, Budarina MV, Barker A, Lorenz A, Strand SE and Bruce NC (2011) Engineering plants for the phytoremediation of RDX in the presence of the co-contaminating explosive TNT. New Phytologist 192: 405-413

• Rylott EL, Lorenz A and Bruce NC (2010) Biodegradation and biotransformation of explosives, Current Opinion in Biotechnology 22:1-7

• Rylott EL, Jackson RG, Sabbadin F, Seth-Smith HM, Edwards J, Chong CS, Strand SE, Grogan G and Bruce, NC (2010) The explosive-degrading cytochrome P450 XplA: Biochemistry, structural features and prospects for bioremediation, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1814: 230-236

• Beynon ER, Symons ZC, Jackson RG, Lorenz A, Rylott EL and Bruce NC (2009) The role of oxophytodienoate reductases in the detoxification of the explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene by Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 151:253-61

• Rylott EL and Bruce NC (2009) Plants disarm soil: engineering plants for the phytoremediation of explosives. Trends Biotechnol. 27: 73-81

• Gandia-Herrero F, Lorenz A, Larson T, Graham IA, Bowles DJ, Rylott EL and Bruce, NC (2008) Detoxification of the explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in Arabidopsis- discovery of bifunctional O- and C-glucosyltransferases. The Plant J. 56: 963-74

• Mena Benitez GL, Gandia-Herrero F, Graham S, Larson TR, McQueen-Mason S, French CE, Rylott EL and Bruce NC (2008) Engineering a Catabolic Pathway in Plants for the Degradation of 1,2-Dichloroethane Plant Physiol. 147:1192-8

• Jackson RG, Rylott EL, Fournier D, Hawari J and Bruce NC (2007) Exploring the biochemical properties and remediation applications of the unusual explosive-degrading P450 system XplA/B. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 104:16822-7

• Rylott EL, Jackson RG, Edwards J, Womack GL, Seth-Smith HM, Rathbone DA, Strand SE, Bruce NC (2006). An explosive-degrading cytochrome P450 activity and its targeted application for the phytoremediation of RDX. Nat Biotechnol. 24:216-9

• Rylott EL, Eastmond PJ, Gilday AD, Slocombe SP, Larson TR, Baker A, Graham IA. (2006). The Arabidopsis thaliana multifunctional protein gene (MFP2) of peroxisomal beta-oxidation is essential for seedling establishment. Plant J. 45:930-41

• Pinfield-Wells H, Rylott EL, Gilday AD, Graham S, Job K, Larson TR and Graham IA. (2005). Sucrose rescues seedling establishment but not germination of Arabidopsis mutants disrupted in peroxisomal fatty acid catabolism. Plant J. 43:861-72

• Penfield S, Rylott EL, Gilday AD, Graham, S, Larson, TR and Graham IA. (2004). Reserve Mobilisation in the Arabidopsis Endosperm Fuels Hypocotyl Elongation in the dark, is independent of abscisic acid and requires the PHOSPHOENOLPYRUVATE CARBOXYKINASE1 gene. Plant Cell. 16:2705-18

• Rylott EL, Rogers CA, Gilday AD, Edgell T, Larson TR and Graham IA (2003). Arabidopsis mutants in short- and medium-chain acyl-CoA oxidase activities accumulate acyl-CoAs and reveal that fatty acid beta-oxidation is essential for embryo development. J Biol Chem. 278:21370-7

• Rylott EL, Gilday AD Graham IA (2003). The gluconeogenic enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase in Arabidopsis thaliana is essential for seedling establishment. Plant Physiol. 131:1834-42

• Rylott EL and Larson TA (2002). Futile cycling through b-oxidation as a barrier to increased yields of novel oils. In Plant Peroxisomes, Kluwer Academic Publishers, London. Chapter 14 pp 445-464

• Germain V, Rylott EL, Larson TR, Sherson SM, Bechtold N, Carde J, Bryce JH, Graham IA and Smith SM (2001). Requirement for 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase-2 in peroxisome development, fatty acid beta-oxidation and breakdown of triacylglycerol in lipid bodies of Arabidopsis seedlings Plant J. 28: 1-12

• Rylott EL, Hooks MA and Graham IA (2001) Co-ordinate regulation of genes involved in storage lipid mobilization in Arabidopsis thaliana Biochem Soc Trans 29: 283-7

• Germain V, Rylott EL, Larson T R, Sherson SM, Bechtold N, Carde J, Bryce JH, Graham IA and Smith SM (2001) Requirement for 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase-2 in peroxisome development, fatty acid beta-oxidation and breakdown of triacylglycerol in lipid bodies of Arabidopsis seedlings. The Plant Journal 28: 1-12

• Rylott EL, Metzlaff K and Rawsthorne S (1998). Developmental and environmental effects on the expression of the C3-C4 intermediate phenotype in Moricandia arvensis. Plant Physiol. 118:1277-1284.

* = corresponding author