title: Metal hyperaccumulation and hypertolerance: a model for plant evolutionary genomics.
abstract: In the course of evolution, plants adapted to widely differing metal availabilities in soils and therefore represent an important source of natural variation of metal homeostasis networks. Research on plant metal homeostasis can thus provide insights into the functioning, regulation and adaptation of biological networks. Here, we describe major recent breakthroughs in the understanding of the genetic and molecular basis of metal hyperaccumulation and associated hypertolerance, a naturally selected complex trait which represents an extreme adaptation of the metal homeostasis network. Investigations in this field reveal further the molecular alterations underlying the evolution of natural phenotypic diversity and provide a highly relevant framework for comparative genomics.
authors.affiliation: Functional Genomics and Plant Molecular Imaging, Center for Protein Engineering, Department of Life Sciences (B22), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium. marc.hanikenne@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hanikenne
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nouet
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005075:Biological Evolution; D019607:Brassicaceae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D023281:Genomics; D008670:Metals / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D010641:Phenotype; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism; D013045:Species Specificity; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D031227:Thlaspi / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D010940:Plant Proteins; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants