Phytochelatins (PCs) are metal-binding cysteine-rich peptides, enzymatically synthesized in plants and yeasts from glutathione in response to heavy metal stress by PC synthase (EC 2.3.2.15). In an attempt to increase the ability of bacterial cells to accumulate heavy metals, the Arabidopsis thaliana gene encoding PC synthase (AtPCS) was expressed in Escherichia coli. A marked accumulation of PC...

Chronic exposure of heavy metals is highly correlated with the epidemic of degenerative disease, nephrotoxicity, cancers and aging, while the acute response of cells to the same heavy metals provides some nuanced insights into how cells are able to handle environmental insults, and perhaps characterize specific triggers of the process, itself. Some heavy metals, such as copper, trigger an immed...

BACKGROUND Abnormal serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (γ-GT) may be an early and sensitive marker for oxidative stress. This study was performed to evaluate the association between serum heavy metals and γ-GT concentration. METHODS This study is a cross-sectional analysis based on data from Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (V-1, 2, 2010, 2011) regarding serum heavy metal ...

Oxidative damage and antioxidant properties were studied in Mugil cephalus exposed to cadmium, copper, lead and zinc in chronic toxicity test as pollution biomarkers. The elevated thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBA-RS) levels observed under exposure to heavy metals, leading to the oxidative damage resulting in lipid peroxidation (LPX). Increased activities of antioxidants, catalase (C...

the aim of this study was to assess the effects of heavy metal tolerant soil microbes inoculation on growth and metal uptake of pearl millet (pennisetum glaucum), couch grass (triticum repens) and alfalfa (medicago sativa) in a soil spiked (and subsequently aged) with increasing concentrations of pb. a soil sample (soil 1) was spiked with increasing (0 to 1500 mg/kg) concentrations of pb and in...

the  present study was aimed  at comparing the ability of three crop plants for phytoremediation of zinc (zn) and nickel (zn) from soils. a factorial (3×2×3) experiment based on rcbd was  used to compare the treatments,  and was repeated three times. the first factor was crop type (wheat, clover and rapeseed), the second factor was heavy metal types (zinc (zn) and nickel (ni)) and the third fac...