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Problem of Mercury Toxicity in Crop Plants: Can Plant Growth Promoting Microbes (PGPM) Be an Effective Solution?

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Field Crops: Sustainable Management by PGPR

Part of the book series: Sustainable Development and Biodiversity ((SDEB,volume 23))

Abstract

Mercury is ranked as the most toxic heavy metals. It enters into the environment due to some natural processes and anthropogenic activities. It has a property of bioaccumulation into the food chain through uptake by crop plants from the contaminated agricultural lands, leading to detrimental impact on human health. Mercury has the toxic effect on plants as it disturbs many biological processes, including photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration, cell division and so on. Phytoremediation involves several plant species which have the ability to accumulate or degrade contaminants, including heavy metals. Another important strategy is the utilization of transgenic plants transformed with bacterial mer genes to increase phytoremediation of mercury. The mercury-resistant plant growth promoting microbes (PGPM) enhance plant growth under mercury stress as well as increase the mercury uptake by plants. This chapter summarizes the present understanding toward the mercury toxicity and their molecular responses in plants. It also illustrates the plethora of mechanism adapted by PGPM for plant growth promotion and detoxification of mercury. It also highlights the paradigms for synergistic use of PGPM for improved phytoremediation of mercury from agricultural lands.

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Acknowledgment

The author I. Gontia-Mishra acknowledges the funding provided by Science and Engineering Research Board, New Delhi, India, grant number PDF/2017/001001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology Centre, Jawaharlal Nehru Agriculture University, Jabalpur, 482004, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Swapnil Sapre, Reena Deshmukh & Iti Gontia-Mishra

  2. Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Jawaharlal Nehru Agriculture University, Jabalpur, 482004, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Sharad Tiwari

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  1. Swapnil Sapre
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  2. Reena Deshmukh
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  4. Sharad Tiwari
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Correspondence to Iti Gontia-Mishra .

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  1. Department of Botany and Microbiology, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India

    Dinesh Kumar Maheshwari

  2. Department of Botany and Microbiology, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India

    Shrivardhan Dheeman

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Sapre, S., Deshmukh, R., Gontia-Mishra, I., Tiwari, S. (2019). Problem of Mercury Toxicity in Crop Plants: Can Plant Growth Promoting Microbes (PGPM) Be an Effective Solution?. In: Maheshwari, D., Dheeman, S. (eds) Field Crops: Sustainable Management by PGPR. Sustainable Development and Biodiversity, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30926-8_10

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