Certain plants, known as metal hyperaccumulators, have the extraordinary ability to accumulate in their natural habitat between 1,000-30,000 ppm foliar Cd, Ni, Se or Zn, depending on the species. A better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms involved in this hyperaccumulation process should allow the development of plants more ideally suited for phytoremediation of metal contaminated soils. This type of information could also lead to better human nutrition through micronutrient mineral enrichment in foodstuffs. Our laboratory has been taking both single gene and genome-wide approaches to uncover the molecular, physiological and biochemical mechanisms underlying Ni/Zn hyperaccumulation in various Thlaspi species and Se hyperaccumulation in Astragalus bisulcatus. This includes characterization of specific genes involved in vacuolar metal sequestration and genes involved in Se reduction and methylation. A large ICP-MS based metal-profiling project is also under way. We hope this will reveal more details about the way Arabidopsis thaliana, a close relative of the Thlaspi hyperaccumulators, controls the uptake and accumulation of nutrient and non-nutrient ions including Ca, Li, Na, P, Ni, Cr, K, Mg, Fe, Mn, Co, Mo, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd and Pb.
CITATION STYLE
Salt, D. (2002). Molecular physiology of metal hyperaccumulation in plants. 9th New Phytologist Symposium. Heavy Metals and Plants from Ecosystems to Biomolecules. September 29 - October 1, 2002.
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