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Plant Defence Against Heavy Metal Stress

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Plant Defence: Biological Control

Part of the book series: Progress in Biological Control ((PIBC,volume 12))

Abstract

Heavy metals include both essential as well as nonessential elements. The excess concentration of heavy metals in the soil may be due to natural ­mineralization or due to anthropogenic factors. Certain plants are capable to develop tolerance and colonize the metalliferous soils. Certain plants partially exclude the metals from their system, others show complete exclusion, and still others show operation of absorption barriers whereas there are others which accumulate them. Some plant species- the hyperaccumulators, have the ability to accumulate large amounts of elements in their tissues without showing any symptoms of toxicity. All hyperaccumulator plant species are endemic to metalliferous soils indicating hyperaccumulation to be an adaptation towards heavy metal stress which probably has evolved as a defense mechanism against herbivores or pathogens.

Plants may adopt different defense strategies to detoxify the excessive concentration of heavy metals occurring in their surroundings. The detoxification may result at cell wall, cell membrane or protoplasm level. Plants may transport the metals to various compartments, especially to apparent free spaces, intercellular or intracellular vacuoles and bodies like lysosomes to sequester the metals. Plants may achieve metal tolerance by protecting the integrity of plasma membrane, by the use of heat shock proteins or metallothioneins and by chelating heavy metals. It appears that there is no single mechanism that can account for tolerance to a wide range of heavy metals and probably more than one mechanism may be responsible for detoxification of a particular metal. How plants defend themselves to toxic heavy metals is discussed in the present review.

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  1. Department of Botany, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, 313002, Rajasthan, India

    N. C. Aery

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  1. , Gr. d'Etude Subst. Vég. à Act. Biolog., Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du, Chemin de Leysotte 210, Villenave d'Ornon, 33882, France

    Jean Michel Mérillon

  2. , Botany, University College of Science, M.L. Sukhadia University, Durga Nursery Road, Udaipur, 313002, Rajasthan, India

    Kishan Gopal Ramawat

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Aery, N.C. (2012). Plant Defence Against Heavy Metal Stress. In: Mérillon, J., Ramawat, K. (eds) Plant Defence: Biological Control. Progress in Biological Control, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1933-0_10

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