1. Metalloid hazards: From plant molecular evolution to mitigation strategies
- Author
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Fanrong Zeng, Wei Gao, Paul Holford, Xue Feng, Zhong-Hua Chen, Adeel Riaz, Guang Chen, Xiaojian Wu, Fenglin Deng, and Feibo Wu
- Subjects
Plant growth ,Environmental Engineering ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,0211 other engineering and technologies ,02 engineering and technology ,010501 environmental sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Arsenic ,Evolution, Molecular ,Food chain ,Environmental protection ,Hazardous waste ,Molecular evolution ,Detoxification ,Animals ,Humans ,Soil Pollutants ,Environmental Chemistry ,Waste Management and Disposal ,Metalloids ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,021110 strategic, defence & security studies ,fungi ,food and beverages ,Biological Transport ,Pollution ,Environmental practices ,Phytoremediation ,Biodegradation, Environmental ,Environmental science ,Metalloid - Abstract
Metalloids such as boron and silicon are key elements for plant growth and crop productivity. However, toxic metalloids such as arsenic are increasing in the environment due to inputs from natural sources and human activities. These hazardous metalloids can cause serious health risks to humans and animals if they enter the food chain. Plants have developed highly regulated mechanisms to alleviate the toxicity of metalloids during their 500 million years of evolution. A better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the transport and detoxification of toxic metalloids in plants will shed light on developing mitigation strategies. Key transporters and regulatory proteins responsive to toxic metalloids have been identified through evolutionary and molecular analyses. Moreover, knowledge of the regulatory proteins and their pathways can be used in the breeding of crops with lower accumulation of metalloids. These findings can also assist phytoremediation by the exploration of plants such as fern species that hyperaccumulate metalloids from soils and water, and can be used to engineer plants with elevated uptake and storage capacity of toxic metalloids. In summary, there are solutions to remediate contamination due to toxic metalloids by combining the research advances and industrial technologies with agricultural and environmental practices.
- Published
- 2021