Phytoremediation of soil metals

The phytoremediation of metal-contaminated soils offers a low-cost method for soil remediation and some extracted metals may be recycled for value. Both the phytoextraction of metals and the phytovolatilization of Se or Hg by plants offer great promise for commercial development. Natural metal hyperaccumulator phenotype is much more important than high-yield ability when using plants to remove metals from contaminated soils. The hypertolerance of metals is the key plant characteristic required for hyperaccumulation; vacuolar compartmentalization appears to be the source of hypertolerance of natural hyperaccumulator plants. Alternatively, soil Pb and Cr6+ may be inactivated in the soil by plants and soil amendments (phytostabilization). Little molecular understanding of plant activities critical to phytoremediation has been achieved, but recent progress in characterizing Fe, Cd and Zn uptake by Arabidopsis and yeast mutants indicates strategies for developing transgenic improved phytoremediation cultivars for commercial use. (C) Current Biology Ltd.