Drosophila GSTs display outstanding catalytic efficiencies with the environmental pollutants 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene and 2,4-dinitrotoluene

•The explosive TNT is a carcinogenic environmental pollutant spread world-wide.•TNT and the related DNT can be detoxified by conjugation with cellular glutathione.•Previously studied plant glutathione transferases display modest activity with TNT.•We found that human GSTs from four classes have low activity with TNT and DNT.•By contrast Drosophila GSTE6 and GSTE7 displayed outstanding TNT and DNT activities.

The nitroaromatic explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and the related 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) are toxic environmental pollutants. The biotransformation and detoxication of these persistent compounds in higher organisms are of great significance from a health perspective as well as for the biotechnological challenge of bioremediation of contaminated soil. We demonstrate that different human glutathione transferases (GSTs) and GSTs from the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster are catalysts of the biotransformation of TNT and DNT. The human GSTs had significant but modest catalytic activities with both DNT and TNT. However, D. melanogaster GSTE6 and GSTE7 displayed outstanding high activities with both substrates.