Industrial developments brought contamination to the environments. One of the worse contaminations is the heavy-metal pollution in soil. Decontamination is mostly conducted via chemical treatments. Nevertheless, chemical engineering suffers time consuming and second contamination, finally leading to severe legislative restrictions.  In contrast, conventional bioremediation, especially those employing plants only, usually requires a long time to digest the pollutants in environments. Here, we developed a technique based on plant-microbe interactions. Key techniques include metagenomics analysis of environmental microbes, purification of candidate bacteria, molecular breeding of poaceous plants, and functional recipes. Accordingly, various microbial agents for removing pollutants from soil will be developed and commercialized. In short, this novel technique isolates “useful” microbes, combining with plants, to develop agents for decontamination of heavy metals in environments.

Ecological restoration is a core issue in conservation. Vegetation coupled with soil microbes helps the removal of pollutants from the lands. Our research reveals that abandoned salt ponds recovered faster than expected when plants were introduced. Apparently, phytoremediation utilizing salt-tolerant plants and soil microorganisms reduces the salt concentrations.

Focusing on the plant-microbe interaction, we looked at the microbial floras in the roots of Miscanthus. Diverse phyla constituted the rhizosphere microbiome, including a core microbiome found consistently across habitats. In endosphere, the predominance of the bacteria colonizing from the surrounding soil suggests that soil recruitment must have subsequently determined the endophytic microbiome in Miscanthus roots.

This novel technique based on plant-microbe interactions provides a total solution for the removal of heavy metal pollutants from the soil. Benefits of the bioremediation include in-situ treatments that save transportation costs, time saving (compared to the original equipment manufacturer service), avoiding secondary contamination, avoiding heat emission, and high efficiency. Total solution technology providing environmentally friendly solutions is suitable for the ecological decontamination at the polluted lands, and for factories that discharge water or mud contaminated with heavy metals. Besides, not only for the lands in Taiwan, the metagenomics-based technique allows one to explore polluted lands of various altitude and latitude, indicating a vast potential market.