Cellular and Molecular Phytotoxicity of Heavy Metals

Heavy metals can alter plant growth, disrupt cellular processes, and move through ecosystems via crops and soils. This edited scientific volume examines those effects at several levels—from uptake and visible stress responses to molecular mechanisms of toxicity, tolerance, and mitigation.

From polluted soil to plant cells

Contributions address how metals interact with plants and how exposure can affect crop growth, yields, nutrient and water uptake, metabolism, and biomass. The collection also considers oxidative stress, DNA damage, cell death, and molecular responses, offering readers a broad view of phytotoxicity rather than a single-metal case study.

Mechanisms, metals, and plant responses

Topics include heavy-metal tolerance, stress-responsive phyto-miRNAs, and chapters focused on lead, mercury, cadmium, and aluminum. Together, these subjects connect environmental exposure with the physiological and cellular changes researchers investigate in plants.

Exploring mitigation and phytoremediation

The volume also turns to possible responses to contaminated environments. Its chapters examine beneficial microbes, plant growth regulators, biochar, algae-bacterial interactions, and phytoremediation approaches using weeds, barley, wheat, and trees. This range makes the book relevant to readers interested in both the biological effects of metal contamination and strategies being studied to manage it.

A research reference across plant sciences

As an edited collection of specialist contributions, the book is suited to researchers, scientists, and students in environmental toxicology, phytotoxicology, plant biology, plant physiology, plant biochemistry, and plant molecular biology. It offers a subject-spanning reference for those studying how plants respond to heavy metals and how those responses may be understood in environmental contexts.