title: Heavy metals and living systems: An overview.
abstract: Heavy metals are natural constituents of the earth's crust, but indiscriminate human activities have drastically altered their geochemical cycles and biochemical balance. This results in accumulation of metals in plant parts having secondary metabolites, which is responsible for a particular pharmacological activity. Prolonged exposure to heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc can cause deleterious health effects in humans. Molecular understanding of plant metal accumulation has numerous biotechnological implications also, the long term effects of which might not be yet known.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, Babu Banarasi Das National Institute of Technology and Management, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Reena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Neetu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gautam
authors.forename: Anurag
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: Rajiv
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gupta