Soil–plant relationships of metals and metalloids

Abstract

Nutrient uptake by plants is essential for their development and for the passage of minerals into the food chain, but it also faces several limitations. Whereas soil physicochemical characteristics impose limiting factors on element availability for plants, excess of non-essential metals and metalloids pose a threat for plant health and the environment. To improve nutrient uptake, the plant possesses several mechanisms to explore the soil for minerals such as root development, but the symbiosis with microorganisms clearly improves the ability of plants to overcome these limitations. After metal uptake by the plants, plants make use of different strategies to maintain the metal homeostasis and to limit the metal-induced cellular damage. Also in the research on metal phytotoxicity, microorganisms are shown to be important players in the protection of the plant to excess metal exposure.