Arsenic removal from water/wastewater using adsorbents—A critical review

Metal contamination issues are becoming increasingly common in India and elsewhere, with many documented cases of metal toxicity in mining industries, foundries, smelters, coal-burning power plants and agriculture. Heavy metals, such as cadmium, copper, lead, chromium and mercury are major environmental pollutants, particularly in areas with high anthropogenic pressure. Heavy metal accumulation in soils is of concern in agricultural production due to the adverse effects on food safety and marketability, crop growth due to phytotoxicity, and environmental health of soil organisms. The influence of plants and their metabolic activities affects the geological and biological redistribution of heavy metals through pollution of the air, water and soil. This article details the range of heavy metals, their occurrence and toxicity for plants. Metal toxicity has high impact and relevance to plants and consequently it affects the ecosystem, where the plants form an integral component. Plants growing in metal-polluted sites exhibit altered metabolism, growth reduction, lower biomass production and metal accumulation. Various physiological and biochemical processes in plants are affected by metals. The contemporary investigations into toxicity and tolerance in metal-stressed plants are prompted by the growing metal pollution in the environment. A few metals, including copper, manganese, cobalt, zinc and chromium are, however, essential to plant metabolism in trace amounts. It is only when metals are present in bioavailable forms and at excessive levels, they have the potential to become toxic to plants. This review focuses mainly on zinc, cadmium, copper, mercury, chromium, lead, arsenic, cobalt, nickel, manganese and iron.

Heavy metals, occurrence and toxicity for plants: a review

https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/bitstream/10356/96770/1/30.%20Application%20of%20Layered%20Double%20Hydroxides%20for%20Removal%20of%20Oxyanions.pdf

Application of layered double hydroxides for removal of oxyanions: A review

A review on the adsorption of heavy metals by clay minerals, with special focus on the past decade

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/1104220.pdf

Heavy metals toxicity in plants: An overview on the role of glutathione and phytochelatins in heavy metal stress tolerance of plants

Bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons in contaminated soils: comparison of biosolids addition, carbon supplementation, and monitored natural attenuation.

Bioaccumulation and physiological effects of mercury in Sesbania drummondii

Starch biosynthesis during pollen maturation is not well understood in terms of genes/proteins and intracellular controls that regulate it in developing pollen. We have studied two specific developmental stages: “early,” characterized by the lack of starch, before or during pollen mitosis I; and “late,” an actively starch-filling post-pollen mitosis I phase in S-type cytoplasmic male-sterile (S-CMS) and two related male-fertile genotypes. The male-fertile starch-positive, but not the CMS starch-deficient, genotypes showed changes in the expression patterns of a large number of genes during this metabolic transition. In addition to a battery of housekeeping genes of carbohydrate metabolism, we observed changes in hexose transporter, plasma membrane H+-ATPase, ZmMADS1, and 14-3-3 proteins. Reduction or deficiency in 14-3-3 protein levels in all three major cellular sites (amyloplasts [starch], mitochondria, and cytosol) in male-sterile relative to male-fertile genotypes are of potential interest because of interorganellar communication in this CMS system. Further, the levels of hexose sugars were significantly reduced in male-sterile as compared with male-fertile tissues, not only at “early” and “late” stages but also at an earlier point during meiosis. Collectively, these data suggest that combined effects of both reduced sugars and their reduced flux in starch biosynthesis along with a strong possibility for altered redox passage may lead to the observed temporal changes in gene expressions, and ultimately pollen sterility.

Rupali Datta

Papers

Bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons in contaminated soils: comparison of biosolids addition, carbon supplementation, and monitored natural attenuation.

Bioaccumulation and physiological effects of mercury in Sesbania drummondii

Starch biosynthesis during pollen maturation is associated with altered patterns of gene expression in maize.

Mechanisms of ciprofloxacin removal by nano-sized magnetite.

Symbiotic role of Glomus mosseae in phytoextraction of lead in vetiver grass [Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.)]