title: Plant-driven removal of heavy metals from soil: uptake, translocation, tolerance mechanism, challenges, and future perspectives.
abstract: Increasing heavy metal (HM) concentrations in the soil have become a significant problem in the modern industrialized world due to several anthropogenic activities. Heavy metals (HMs) are non-biodegradable and have long biological half lives; thus, once entered in food chain, their concentrations keep on increasing through biomagnification. The increased concentrations of heavy metals ultimately pose threat on human life also. The one captivating solution for this problem is to use green plants for HM removal from soil and render it harmless and reusable. Although this green technology called phytoremediation has many advantages over conventional methods of HM removal from soils, there are also many challenges that need to be addressed before making this technique practically feasible and useful on a large scale. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms of HM uptake, transport, and plant tolerance mechanisms to cope with increased HM concentrations. This review article also comprehensively discusses the advantages, major challenges, and future perspectives of phytoremediation of heavy metals from the soil.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, Gambang, 26300, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Sveta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thakur
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, Gambang, 26300, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. lucki.chem09@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lakhveer
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, Gambang, 26300, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Zularisam Ab
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Wahid
authors.affiliation: Advanced Environmental Biotechnology Centre, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637141, Singapore.
authors.forename: Muhammad Faisal
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, Gambang, 26300, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Samson Mekbib
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Atnaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohd Fadhil Md
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Din
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D058735:Environmental Policy; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D010944:Plants; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Metal ion uptake; Phytoremediation; Tolerance mechanisms; Translocation