Legacy and Emerging Contaminants in Plants: From the Gene to the Field
1Department of Biology, Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
2Laboratory of Plant Ecophysiology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland
3Department of Analytical Chemistry, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 123 Huntington Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
Legacy and Emerging Contaminants in Plants: From the Gene to the Field
Description
Plants have long been exposed to both organic and inorganic contaminants present in soil, water, and air. The phytotoxicity of contaminants such as metals has been known for some time but, due to anthropogenic activities, a generation of emerging contaminants is arising, with unknown consequences for humans and the environment. Although these new compounds include more familiar contaminants such as pesticides and pharmaceutical/personal care products (PPCPs), nanomaterials (NM) are of particular concern due to the exponential increase in their utilization in commercial products. Recent reports on NM risk assessment focused mostly on human health and chemical detection methods, effectively highlighting the severe lack of understanding concerning NM interactions with plants.
In the limited literature that exists, it has been speculated that metal-based nanomaterials (M-NM) (e.g., Ti-NM, Au-NM, and Ag-NM) represent an increased risk to plants. These new metal-based nanomaterials have unique physical and chemical characteristics relative to the corresponding bulk elements and plant toxicologists must determine whether the physiological impacts are similarly unique. A mechanistic understanding of the processes controlling root uptake of metal-based nanomaterials, their subsequent translocation and disposition, as well as plants resistance and detoxification mechanisms, are all of primary importance and are a focus of this special issue. This issue is also interested in research related to all aspects of plant response, from physiology and yield to cell signaling and cascade reactions. In general, articles describing plant-environment interactions, physiology, genotoxicity and cytotoxic effects, and also changes in the proteome and metabolome induced by M-NM in plants are welcome. Toxicological studies on the effects of other emerging nonmetal compounds such as carbon-based nanomaterials in plants are also welcome. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Plant-environment interactions
- Trophic transfer
- Bioremediation
- Physiological responses
- Cytoxicity
- Genotoxicity
- Genomic, proteomic, and metabolic changes
- Endpoints to evaluate materials phytotoxicity
- Other general phytotoxicity studies
Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jb/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: