Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jan 30:6:33.
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2015.00033. eCollection 2015.

Toward a more physiologically and evolutionarily relevant definition of metal hyperaccumulation in plants

Eric W Goolsby  1 , Chase M Mason  2
Affiliations

Toward a more physiologically and evolutionarily relevant definition of metal hyperaccumulation in plants

Eric W Goolsby et al. Front Plant Sci. .
No abstract available

Keywords: evolution; hyperaccumulation; metalloids; metals; physiology; tolerance; traits.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A more physiologically and evolutionarily relevant conceptual framework for the study of variation in the distinct physiological traits of metal accumulation and tolerance. Both traits are continuous, and plant phenotypes span a wide range of combinations of both traits. Traditional hyperaccumulators are those with both high accumulation and high tolerance (Quadrant I; e.g., Astragalus bisculcatus for selenium; (El Mehdawi et al., 2011)). Species with high accumulation of specific metals, but low tolerance to those metals, are also known to exist but are excluded from the naturalistic definition of hyperaccumulation (Quadrant II; e.g., Thlaspi goesingense for zinc; (Lombi et al., 2000)). Most plants are neither tolerant nor accumulate (Quadrant III; e.g., Arabidopsis thaliana for cadmium; (Hanikenne et al., 2008)), though many species are known to be tolerant of metal exposure while not accumulating (Quadrant IV; e.g., Silene vulgaris for copper; (van Hoof et al., 2001)). Both groups (III) and (IV) are typically collapsed together as non-hyperaccumulators, which is accurate, but fails to capture the important distinction and its relevance to the colonization of metal-rich soils and likely importance in hyperaccumulator evolution. Explicitly considering both tolerance and accumulation as separate traits is key to the study of hyperaccumulator physiology and evolution.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Baker A. J. M. (1981). Accumulators and excluders—strategies in the response of plants to heavy metals. J. Plant Nutr. 3, 643–654 10.1080/01904168109362867 - DOI
    1. Baker A. J. M., Whiting S. N. (2002). In search of the Holy Grail—a further step in understanding metal hyperaccumulation? New Phytol. 155, 1–4 10.1046/j.1469-8137.2002.00449_1.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boyd R. S. (2004). Ecology of metal hyperaccumulation. New Phytol. 162, 563–567 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2004.01079.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boyd R. S. (2013). Exploring tradeoffs in hyperaccumulator ecology and evolution. New Phytol. 199, 871–872. 10.1111/nph.12398 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boyd R. S., Martens S. N. (1998). Nickel hyperaccumulation by Thlaspi montanum var. montanum (Brassicaceae): a constitutive trait. Am. J. Bot. 85, 259–265. 10.2307/2446314 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources