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Pb hyperaccumulation and tolerance in common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench)

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Abstract

Common buckwheat grown in Pb-contaminated soil was found to accumulate a large amount of Pb in its leaves (8,000 mg/kg DW), stem (2,000 mg/kg DW), and roots (3,300 mg/kg DW), without significant damage. This indicates that buckwheat is a newly recognized Pb hyperaccumulator, which is defined as a plant containing over 1,000 mg/kg of Pb in its shoots on a dry-weight basis. Moreover, it was shown that application of the biodegradable chelator methylglycinediacetic acid trisodium salt at concentrations of up to 20 mmol/kg resulted in a more than five times higher concentration of Pb in the shoot without notable growth inhibitation at up to 10 mmol/kg. These results indicate that buckwheat is a potential phytoremediator of Pb-contaminated soils.

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Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to Ms. Yoko Hibino of the Tajimi City Office for providing soil materials, Prof. Isao Hasegawa of Nihon University for helpful suggestions, and Mr. Hajime Umeda of Techno Chubu for technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology Group, Energy Application R&D Center, Chubu Electric Power Co., 20-1 Kitasekiyama, Ohdaka-cho, Midori-ku, Nagoya, 459-8522, Japan

    Hideo Tamura

  2. Gifu Prefectural Institute for Bio-Industrial Technology, 3481-2 Kamihachiya, Hachiya-cho, Minokamo, Gifu, 505-0004, Japan

    Munechika Honda

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan

    Takeshi Sato

  4. Department of Environmental Biology and Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Toyama University, 3190 Gofuku, Toyama, 930-8555, Japan

    Hiroyuki Kamachi

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  1. Hideo Tamura
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  2. Munechika Honda
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  3. Takeshi Sato
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  4. Hiroyuki Kamachi
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Correspondence to Hideo Tamura.

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Tamura, H., Honda, M., Sato, T. et al. Pb hyperaccumulation and tolerance in common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench). J Plant Res 118, 355–359 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-005-0229-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-005-0229-z

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