Chemical mimicry and transporter competition in plant toxic metal uptake and nano enabled microbial mitigation
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, cilt.14, sa.5, ss.1-71, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Derleme
- Cilt numarası: 14 Sayı: 5
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.jece.2026.123960
- Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Chemical Abstracts Core, Compendex, INSPEC
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-71
- Kayseri Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Plants can accumulate toxic metals from their environment or because of their chemical resemblance to essential nutrients. Elements like cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), arsenic (As) and cesium (Cs) possess numerous physicochemical properties like ionic radius, ionic charge, coordination chemistry and hydration enthalpy that have similarities to essential minerals like zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). This similarity permits the entry of toxic metals into plants via nutrient uptake systems through promiscuous transporters such as the ZIP, NRAMP, IRT, PHT and HMA. These underlying mechanisms of using higher-affinity transporters for metals and lower-affinity transporters for nutrients predispose to increased competition at the transport binding site during times of nutrient shortage. Subsequently, after entering the plant cell, toxic metals alter metal stoichiometry, displace essential metal cofactors and upset redox balance resulting in excess ROS production. Plants have several methods of detoxifying toxic metals including chelation by phytochelatins, metallothioneins, and other thiol-containing ligands and/or the sequestration within the vacuole, which alleviate acute toxicity. However, these methods are likely inadequate to address chronic exposures. This review links these different mechanisms within an integrated framework, which includes coordination chemistry, transporter competition, intracellular metal homeostasis, redox regulation, ionomics, multi-omics, and rhizosphere engineering. The framework emphasizes the potential of nanomaterials and beneficial microorganisms to alter the speciation of metals, accessibility of transporters, and rhizosphere processes in contaminated agricultural systems, thereby lowering the toxic metal accumulation, and augmenting the acquisition of nutrients.