Molecular characterization of a novel heavy metal uptake transporter from higher plants and its potential for use in phytoremediation. 1998 annual progress report

'Soils and waters contaminated with high levels of heavy metals such as Cadmium, Lead and Copper are detrimental to human and environmental health. Many human disorders have been attributed to environmental contamination by heavy metals. Removal of heavy metals from highly contaminated sites is therefore a very costly but necessary process that is currently being pursued. Recent research in several laboratories indicates that uptake of heavy metals into plants via the root system may provide a cost-effective approach for decontamination of certain heavy metal-laden soils and waters. Several mechanisms have been identified, which allow detoxification in the cytosol and vacuoles of plants. However, the molecular biological mechanisms by which heavy metals are transported from soils across the plasma membrane into roots have remained largely unknown. In recent research, the laboratory has cloned a cation uptake transporter cDNA from plants. Yeast cells expressing this cDNA show enhanced uptake of calcium and cadmium. The proposed research is testing the transport of toxic and nutrient metals by the encoded protein.