Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associations are integral, functioning parts of plant roots and are widely recognized as enhancing plant growth on severely disturbed sites, including those contaminated with heavy metals. They are reported to be present on the roots of plants growing on heavy metal contaminated soils and play an important role in metal tolerance and accumulation. Isolation of the in...

The ability to tolerate disturbance is a defense strategy that minimizes the effects of damage to fitness and is essential for sustainability of populations, communities, and ecosystems. Despite the apparent benefits of tolerance, there may be an associated cost that results in a deficiency of a system to respond to additional disturbances. Aquatic ecosystems are often exposed to a variety of n...

Metallochaperones are metal-binding proteins designed to deliver the appropriate metal to a target protein. The metal is usually transferred between different proteins. In this study, we discovered that metal was transferred between the same subunit of a mutant nitrile hydratase (NHase). Various "activator proteins" mediate the trafficking of metal ions into NHases. We constructed fusion NHases...

Yeasts are often successful in metal-polluted environments; therefore, the ability of biofilm and planktonic cell Candida tropicalis to endure metal toxicity was investigated. Fifteen water-soluble metal ions, chosen to represent groups 6A to 6B of the periodic table, were tested against this organism. With in vitro exposures as long as 24 h, biofilms were up to 65 times more tolerant to killin...

In the present study, we used Illumina sequencing technology (HiSeq 2000) to sequence the transcriptome of barley (Hordeum vulgare L., cv. Morex) under three different heavy metal stress conditions: copper, zinc and cadmium. For each of those metals, the concentration causing a 50% inhibitory effect for root growth (EC50) was determined. We sequenced the total RNA of both roots and shoots from ...

The chemical stress factors for microbial life at deep-sea hydrothermal vents include high concentrations of heavy metals and sulfide. Three hyperthermophilic vent archaea, the sulfur-reducing heterotrophs Thermococcus fumicolans and Pyrococcus strain GB-D and the chemolithoautotrophic methanogen Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, were tested for survival tolerance to heavy metals (Zn, Co, and Cu) ...

This review describes the various ways of functionalizing the pyridine scaffold using either directed metalation or halogen/metal exchange. Deprotonation can be accomplished with different lithium amides or alkyllithium reagents at low temperature. Milder conditions and higher functional group tolerance can be achieved by using ate-bases with different metals (Cd, Mg, Zn) or TMP (2,2,6,6tetrame...

Alkaline salt stress adversely affects rice growth, productivity and grain quality. However, the mechanism underlying this process remains elusive. We characterized here an alkaline tolerant mutant, alt1 in rice. Map-based cloning revealed that alt1 harbors a mutation in a chromatin remodeling ATPase gene. ALT1-RNAi transgenic plants under different genetic background mimicked the alt1 phenotyp...

Several species from the Brassica genus are very important agricultural crops in different parts of the world and are also known to be heavy metal accumulators. There have been a large number of studies regarding the tolerance, uptake and defense mechanism in several of these species, notably Brassica juncea and B. napus, against the stress induced by heavy metals. Numerous studies have also be...

Various pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophic (PPFM) bacteria (strains iEII3, iEIV1, iEI6, iEII1, iEIII3 iEIII4, iEIII5, iRII1, iRII2, iRIII1, iRIV1 and iRIV2) were obtained from the rhizosphere and endosphere of hyperaccumulating plant Thlaspi goesingense grown in Redschlag, Austria [R. Idris, R. Trifonova, M. Puschenreiter, W.W. Wenzel, A. Sessitsch, Bacterial communities associated with ...