Metal hyperaccumulating plants are able to accumulate exceptionally high concentrations of metals, such as zinc, nickel, or cadmium, in their aerial tissues. These metals reach concentrations that would be toxic to most other plant species. This trait has evolved multiple times independently in the plant kingdom. Recent studies have provided new insight into the ecological and evolutionary sign...

Elemental hyperaccumulation in plants is hypothesized to represent a plant defense mechanism. The objective of this study was to determine whether selenium (Se) hyperaccumulation offers plants long-term protection from the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus). Prairie dogs are a keystone species. The hyperaccumulator Stanleya pinnata (prince's plume) co-occurs with prairie dogs in se...

Metal hyperaccumulation, in which plants store exceptional concentrations of metals in their shoots, is an unusual trait whose evolutionary and ecological significance has prompted extensive debate. Hyperaccumulator plants are usually found on metalliferous soils, and it has been proposed that hyperaccumulation provides a defense against herbivores and pathogens, an idea termed the 'elemental d...

Contents 1582 I. 1582 II. 1583 III. 1588 IV. 1590 V. 1592 1592 References 1592 SUMMARY: The importance of selenium (Se) for medicine, industry and the environment is increasingly apparent. Se is essential for many species, including humans, but toxic at elevated concentrations. Plant Se accumulation and volatilization may be applied in crop biofortification and phytoremediation. Topics covered ...

Hyperaccumulation is an unusual plant response to metaliferous soils. Such soils like those derived from ultramafic rocks, have elevated concentrations of heavy metals, mainly Ni, Cr, Zn and Cd. Most plants growing on these soils exclude metals from their shoots as excessive accumulation of heavy metals is toxic to the majority of plants. However, about 2% of plants growing on metaliferous soil...

Metal hyperaccumulator plants accumulate and detoxify extraordinarily high concentrations of metal ions in their shoots. Metal hyperaccumulation is a fascinating phenomenon, which has interested scientists for over a century. Hyperaccumulators constitute an exceptional biological material for understanding mechanisms regulating plant metal homeostasis as well as plant adaptation to extreme meta...

A relatively small group of hyperaccumulator plants is capable of sequestering heavy metals in their shoot tissues at high concentrations. In recent years, major scientific progress has been made in understanding the physiological mechanisms of metal uptake and transport in these plants. However, relatively little is known about the molecular bases of hyperaccumulation. In this paper, current p...

Adaptations to particular stresses may occur only in populations experiencing those stresses or may be widespread within a species. Nickel hyperaccumulation is viewed as an adaptation to high-Ni (serpentine) soils, but few studies have determined if hyperaccumulation ability is restricted to populations from high-Ni soils or if it is a constitutive trait found in populations on both high- and l...