BIOREMEDIATION - Part II 

Minerva Biotecnologica 2001 June;13(2):73-83

Copyright © 2001 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Phytoremediation of metals. Tolerance mechanisms against oxidative stress

Navari-Izzo F., Quartacci M. F.

Dipartimento di Chimica e Biotecnologie Agrarie, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Current ­soil reme­di­a­tion tech­nol­o­gies can be inva­sive and expen­sive, result­ing in dras­ti­cal­ly dis­turbed ­soils. The poten­tial of ­green ­plants to ­remove con­tam­i­nants in ­soils is active­ly ­being ­explored in an increas­ing num­ber of labor­a­to­ries trough­out the ­world. Metal-accu­mu­lat­ing ­plants can con­cen­trate ­heavy met­als in ­their ­roots and ­shoots to lev­els far exceed­ing ­those ­present in the ­soil. Phytoextraction ­offers the pos­sibil­ity of remov­ing met­al con­tam­i­nants leav­ing the ­soil unaf­fect­ed. At ­present, ­this tech­nol­o­gy ­must be ­seen as an alter­na­tive tech­nol­o­gy for pro­gres­sive, ­long-­term reme­di­a­tion of mar­gi­nal­ly-con­tam­i­nat­ed ­soils ­because ­before it is pos­sible to use it on a ­large ­scale a num­ber of impor­tant ­issues ­must be ­addressed. This ­paper ­will ­review the cur­rent stat­us of phy­toex­trac­tion tech­nol­o­gy and ­will con­sid­er the oxi­da­tive dam­age ­caused by ­excess of met­als in ­plants and the ­defense strat­e­gy ­against oxi­da­tive dam­age.