Overuse of pesticides has resulted in environmental problems, threating public health through accumulation in food chains. Phytoremediation is a powerful technique to clean up contaminated environments. However, it is necessary to unravel the metabolic mechanisms underlying phytoremediation in order to increase the efficiency of this process. Therefore, growth, physiological and biochemical res...

High concentrations of heavy metals in the soil have detrimental effects on ecosystems and are a risk to human health as they can enter the food chain via agricultural products or contaminated drinking water. Phytoremediation is the direct use of living plants for in situ remediation of metal contaminated soil, sludges, sediments and ground water through contaminant removal, degradation or cont...

Phytoremediation is an emerging technology that uses various plants to degrade, extract, contain, or immobilize contaminants from soil and water. Certain fern and Indian mustard species have been suggested as candidates for phytoremediation of heavy metal-contaminated soil and water because of their high efficiency of accumulating metals in shoots and their high biomass production. Currently, n...

Large quantities of iron-ore tailings are being generated annually in the world from mining and processing of iron ores. It has been estimated that around 10-15% of the iron ore mined in India has remained unutilized and discarded as slimes during mining and subsequent processing. Soil contamination resulting from mining activities affects surrounding flora and fauna and presents a large clean-...

Sharon Doty received a BS degree in genetics from the University of California, Davis (1989), and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Washington (1995). She did postdoctoral research in plant biochemistry (UW). Her current position is assistant professor in the College of Forest Resources, UW. Her research program covers three main areas: phytoremediation, the use of plants for removin...

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a chlorinated hydrocarbon used as a solvent in many degreasing and dry-cleaning operations. TCE is one of the most widespread contaminants of soil and groundwater in the United States. It can be found at 50% of the Superfund National Priority List cleanup sites managed by the United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). According to the USEPA, TCE is also abo...

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Phytoremediation is the use of plants to remedy contaminated soils, sediments, and/or groundwater. Sorption and uptake are governed by physicochemical properties of the compounds, and moderately hydrophobic chemicals (logarithm octanol--water coefficients = 1.0--3.5) are most likely to be bioavailable to rooted, vascular plants. Some hydrophilic compounds, such as methyl-tert-butylether and 1,4...

In the present paper actual trends in the use of transgenic trees for phytoremediation of contaminated soils are reviewed. In this context a current field trial in which transgenic poplars with enhanced GSH synthesis and hence elevated capacity for phytochelatin production are compared with wildtype plants for the removal of heavy metals at different levels of contamination and under different ...