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Arsenic Tolerance and Detoxification Mechanisms in Plants

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Detoxification of Heavy Metals

Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 30))

Abstract

Arsenic (As) is a potential metalloid pollutant and is released by geological activities, smelting operations, fossil fuel combustion, and use of pesticides and herbicides, and it is one of the metalloids given top priority for remediation by the U.S. Department of Energy on the basis of its toxicity and widespread contamination. Arsenic is a ubiquitously distributed and an extremely toxic metalloid affecting the health of many people in more than 23 countries.

On land arsenic is relatively immovable through binding of soil particle; however, most arsenic can readily dissolve in water and in soluble form may leach into surface and groundwater. Arsenic is a non-essential element for plants, generally highly phytotoxic. Plants adopt a range of strategies to combat As toxicity, of which reduction of AsV to arsenite (AsIII), chelation of AsIII with glutathione and phytochelatins (PCs), and subsequent sequestration of complexes in vacuoles have been considered as a major strategy of As detoxification in higher plants.

Our chapter focuses on the problem of arsenic contamination, accumulation, tolerance, and detoxification mechanisms in plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Bioquimica, Biologia Cellular y Molecular de Plantas, Estacion Experimental Del Zaidin, CSIC, 419, Granada, 18008, Spain

    Dharmendra K. Gupta, Maria C. Romero-Puertas & Luisa M. Sandalio

  2. Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India

    Sudhakar Srivastava

  3. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310029, China

    H. G. Huang

Authors
  1. Dharmendra K. Gupta
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  2. Sudhakar Srivastava
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  3. H. G. Huang
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  4. Maria C. Romero-Puertas
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  5. Luisa M. Sandalio
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dharmendra K. Gupta .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Inst. Allgemeine Botanik u. Pflanzenphys, Universität Jena, Dornburger Str. 159, Jena, 07743, Germany

    Irena Sherameti

  2. Amity Institute of Microbial Sciences, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, 201303, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ajit Varma

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Gupta, D.K., Srivastava, S., Huang, H.G., Romero-Puertas, M.C., Sandalio, L.M. (2011). Arsenic Tolerance and Detoxification Mechanisms in Plants. In: Sherameti, I., Varma, A. (eds) Detoxification of Heavy Metals. Soil Biology, vol 30. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21408-0_9

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