Abstract
The influence of heavy metals on metabolism can be best deciphered through in-depth study of mineral nutrients and heavy metal interaction. Regulatory mechanism pertaining to heavy metal nutrition in plants is dynamic but very scarce literature available. Plants have developed several detoxification mechanisms in order to minimize the detrimental effects of heavy or toxic metal exposure and their accumulation. All these mechanisms are mostly based on chelation and subcellular compartmentalization, and the former is considered as the most common detoxification strategy in different plant species. The main class of metal chelator known in plants is phytochelatins (PCs) and metallothioneins (MTs) which are generally cysteine-rich peptides, besides, normal expression of GSH/PCs during metal exposure, certain genetic manipulations of these substances help plants to improve toxicity of heavy metals. The cytosol is considered as an important metal detoxification mechanism under stress conditions. The metal chelation by PCs in the cytosol of plants is known to be the best heavy metal detoxification mechanism and tolerance.
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