Call for articles – Heavy metal sequestration mechanisms in plants-CLOSED

From the beginning of plant life on earth, plants have modified their morpho-physiology, anatomy and their molecular networks to survive under changing environmental conditions. Soils are constituted of beneficial, essential and toxic elements. However, the last few decades were marked by a dramatic increase in industrialization and urbanization, leading to delocalization and concentration of heavy metals in areas having high anthropogenic activities. This pollution has become a worldwide problem which ultimately leads to losses in agricultural yield due to metal toxicity at high concentration and causes hazardous health effects when metals accumulate in edible parts.

Plants are not equally effective in coping with the toxicity of high concentration in heavy metal. Heavy metal sequestration is one of the most important processes developed by some plants to deal with the toxic concentration of some metals (Cu, Ni, Zn), some plants even having the ability to accumulate metals in high quantity in the shoots without toxic effect. However, holistic knowledge of heavy metal sequestration is still scarce.

Hence, this special issue will focus on the heavy metal sequestration mechanisms in plants

• Metal homeostasis and chelators
• Vacuoles, trichomes and hydropotes sequestration
• Transporters for metals storage in organelles
• Metal-tolerant proteins involved in compartmentalization of heavy metals
• Heavy metal detoxification and signal transduction pathway
• Physiological and molecular mechanisms of metal accumulation in hyperaccumulator plants

But will also emphasize the techniques to depollute contaminated soil and therefore increase the amount of cultivable land:

• Microbial biosorbents
• Biochar amendment
• Phytoremediation

Deadline – CLOSED

Good to know – no publication fee and 6 months open-access for free

Guest Editors