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Detoxifying aluminium with buckwheat

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Abstract

Aluminium toxicity is a major problem limiting crop production in acid soils, which account for around 40% of the world's arable land1. Some plants have developed strategies to avoid or tolerate aluminium, including buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench cv. Jianxi), which has a high resistance to aluminium, but the mechanism responsible for resistance is not known. We have found that the aluminium-resistant Juanxi cultivar of buckwheat secretes oxalic acid from its roots specifically and quickly in response to aluminium stress. Further, aluminium accumulates in the leaf cells in a non-toxic Al-oxalate complex with a 1:3 ratio of aluminium to oxalic acid.

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Figure 1: Oxalic acid secretion by buckwheat roots (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench cvJianxi) in response to aluminium stress.
Figure 2: 27Al-NMR spectra.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for Bioresources, Okayama University, Chuo 2-20-1, 710, Kurashiki, Japan

    Jian Feng Ma, Shao Jian Zheng & Hideaki Matsumoto

  2. National Institute of Agroenvironmental Sciences, Tsukuba Norin Danchi, PO Box 2, Tsukuba, 305, Ibaraki, Japan

    Syuntaro Hiradate

Authors
  1. Jian Feng Ma
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  2. Shao Jian Zheng
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  3. Hideaki Matsumoto
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  4. Syuntaro Hiradate
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Ma, J., Zheng, S., Matsumoto, H. et al. Detoxifying aluminium with buckwheat. Nature 390, 569–570 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/37518

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