Metal-hyperaccumulating plants, which are hypothesized to use metals for defence against pests and pathogens, provide a unique context in which to study plant-pathogen coevolution. Previously, we demonstrated that the high concentrations of zinc found in leaves of the hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens provide protection against bacterial pathogens, with a potential trade-off between metal-b...

Extended x-ray absorption fine structure measurements were performed on frozen hydrated samples of the cadmium (Cd)/zinc (Zn) hyperaccumulator Thlaspi caerulescens (Ganges ecotype) after 6 months of Zn(2+) treatment with and without addition of Cd(2+). Ligands depended on the metal and the function and age of the plant tissue. In mature and senescent leaves, oxygen ligands dominated. This resul...

This paper reviews progress in phytoextraction of soil elements and illustrates the key role of hyperaccumulator plant species in useful phytoextraction technologies. Much research has focused on elements which are not practically phytoextracted (Pb); on addition of chelating agents which cause unacceptable contaminant leaching and are cost prohibitive; and on plant species which offer no usefu...

Arsenic (As) pollution is a global problem, and the plant-based cleanup of contaminated soils, called phytoremediation, is therefore of great interest. Recently, transgenic approaches have been designed to develop As phytoremediation technologies. Here, we used a one-gene transgenic approach for As tolerance and accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana . PvACR3, a key arsenite [As(III)] antiporter ...

Hyperaccumulator/hypertolerant plant species have evolved strategies allowing them to grow in metal-contaminated soils, where they accumulate high concentrations of heavy metals in their shoots without signs of toxicity. The mechanisms that allow enhanced metal uptake, root-to-shoot translocation and detoxification in these species are not fully understood. Complementary approaches such as tran...

• This study investigated how selenium (Se) affects relationships between Se hyperaccumulator and nonaccumulator species, particularly how plants influence their neighbors' Se accumulation and growth. • Hyperaccumulators Astragalus bisulcatus and Stanleya pinnata and nonaccumulators Astragalus drummondii and Stanleya elata were cocultivated on seleniferous or nonseleniferous soil, or on gravel ...

Hyperaccumulators are plants that accumulate toxic elements to extraordinary levels. Selenium (Se) hyperaccumulators can contain 0.1-1.5% of their dry weight as Se, levels toxic to most other organisms. In this review we summarise what is known about the ecological functions and implications of Se (hyper)accumulation by plants. Selenium promotes hyperaccumulator growth and also offers a plant s...

The effects of plant-microbe interactions between the hyperaccumulator Arabidopsis halleri and eight bacterial strains, isolated from the rhizosphere of A. halleri plants grown in a cadmium- and zinc-contaminated site, were analysed for shoot metal accumulation, shoot proteome, and the transcription of genes involved in plant metal homeostasis and hyperaccumulation. Cadmium and zinc concentrati...

Phytoremediation is an emerging technology that employs higher plants to cleanup contaminated environments, including metal-polluted soils. Because it produces a biomass rich in extracted toxic metals, further treatment of this biomass is necessary. The aim of our study was to assess the five-year potential of the following native wild plants to produce biomass and remove heavy metals from a po...