BIOAVAILABILITY OF CADMIUM 
    Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)
    pH
    Soil Amendments
    Competitive Cations
    Fertilizer
    Mycorrhizae
    Chelation
       Phytochelatins (PCs)
       Phytochelatin Effectiveness
       Role of Sulfur in PCs
       Oxidative Stress
       Translocation
       Metallothioneins
       Organic Acids
       EDTA / EGTA

CADMIUM TOLERANCE AND
ACCUMULATION IN PLANTS
    Cell Wall Binding
    Reduced Transport
    Compartmentalization
    Chelation
    Phytoextraction factors
       Table 1.  Plant Accumulation
       Hyperaccumulators

CONCLUSIONS

LINKS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Compartmentalization

     Cd, free and complexed, is sequestered in the vacuole of root cells in most species. It is actively transported from the cytosol into the vacuole across the tonoplast via a H+/Cd2+ antiport or an ATP-dependent phytochelatin-transporter. (Salt, et al. 1993). A gene which codes for a PC-transporter in yeast was recently isolated. When over expressed in a plant, this gene (hmt1) might allow for increased production of PC-transporters, which would boost the ability of a plant to sequester PC-Cd complexes in the vacuole (Oritz, et al. 1995).
 

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