Rockcress for heavy-metal clean up
Saturday, October 15, 2016 - 09:11
in Biology & Nature
Rockcress of the Arabidopsis halleri species is known to possess the capability of settling on hostile, heavy metal-contaminated soil. It stores extraordinary high concentrations of certain toxic heavy metals in its leaves: a rare property. Researchers have analyzed approx. 2,000 specimens of this species from 165 locations throughout Europe. In this process, they identified overwhelming diversity that has arisen among plants of the same species over the course of evolution. Their findings help explore plants’ enormous potential for future technologies; in this case, they aid the detoxification of soil and the extraction of metals that are of economic interest.