Potential promising set of plant–microbe interactions for the revegetation of open-pit mining and smelting areas in brazil

Abstract

Mineral exploitation is an essential modern society activity, providing resources for industry and agriculture. However, mining has disturbing effects on the local environment. Environments under influence of mining are often devoid of natural means of biotic regeneration, requiring human intervention for the revegetation. Phytoremediation has proven to be a very promising technique for in situ rehabilitation of these environments. Plant–microbe interactions, especially arbuscular mycorrhizal and legume-rhizobia symbioses have real potential for phytoremediation approaches in the revegetation of mining and smelting contaminated soils. In Brazil, studies are ongoing on the role of both mycorrhizal and legume-rhizobia symbioses as plant growth promoters in contaminated soils. Promising results have provided valuable information to assist the next step that is to apply this biotechnology in field conditions. Although promising results already have been achieved from controlled conditions, more work is needed for a deep understanding of the mechanisms, as the expression/suppression of genes, in both plant and microorganisms, linked to the symbiosis and phytoprotection under trace elements contamination.