OBJECTIVETo estimate the heavy metal content in soil and selected medicinal plants procured from environmentally different sites of the same city.

METHODSSoil and plant samples of Abutilon indicum, Calotropis procera, Euphorbia hirta, Peristrophe bycaliculata, and Tinospora cordifolia were collected from 3 environmentally different sites of the city: heavy traffic area (HTA), industrial area (IA), and residential area (RA). Pb, Cd, Cr, and Ni were estimated in soil and plant samples by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry and compared.

RESULTSThe level of heavy metal was higher in soil than in plant parts studied. Accumulation of heavy metals varied from plant to plant. Pb was the highest in Calotropis procera root from HTA site and the lowest in Peristrophe bycaliculata whole plant from IA site. It was also lower in residential area than in heavy traffic area.

CONCLUSIONThe level of heavy metal content differed in the same medicinal plant collected from environmentally different sites of the same city. Thus, it reiterates our belief that every medicinal plant sample should be tested for contaminant load before processing it further for medication.

Phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway is one of the most important secondary metabolic pathways in plants. It directly or indirectly plays an antioxidant role in plant resistance to heavy metal stress, and can improve the absorption and stress tolerance of plants to heavy metal ions. In this paper, the core reactions and key enzymes of the phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway were summarized, and the biosynthetic processes of key metabolites such as lignin, flavonoids and proanthocyanidins and relevant mechanisms were analyzed. Based on this, the mechanisms of key products of phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway in response to heavy metal stress were discussed. The perspectives on the involvement of phenylpropanoid metabolism in plant defense against heavy metal stress provides a theoretical basis for improving the phytoremediation efficiency of heavy metal polluted environment.
Plants/metabolism* ; Metals, Heavy/metabolism* ; Flavonoids/metabolism* ; Biodegradation, Environmental ; Antioxidants

P1B-ATPases are a group of proteins that can transport heavy metal ions across membranes by hydrolyzing ATP and they are a subclass of the P-type ATPase family. It was found that P1B-ATPases are mainly responsible for the active transport of heavy metal ions in plants and play an important role in the regulation of heavy metal homeostasis in plants. In this paper, we dissusses the mechanism of P1B-ATPases from the structure and classification of P1B-ATPases, and review the current research progress in the function of P1B-ATPases, in order to provide reference for future research and application of P1B-ATPases in improving crop quality and ecological environment management.
Adenosine Triphosphatases/metabolism* ; Biological Transport ; Metals, Heavy ; Plants/enzymology*

Environmental pollution affects the quality of pedosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. Great efforts have been made in the last two decades to reduce pollution sources and remedy the polluted soil and water resources. Phytoremediation, being more cost-effective and fewer side effects than physical and chemical approaches, has gained increasing popularity in both academic and practical circles. More than 400 plant species have been identified to have potential for soil and water remediation. Among them, Thlaspi, Brassica, Sedum alfredii H., and Arabidopsis species have been mostly studied. It is also expected that recent advances in biotechnology will play a promising role in the development of new hyperaccumulators by transferring metal hyperaccumulating genes from low biomass wild species to the higher biomass producing cultivated species in the times to come. This paper attempted to provide a brief review on recent progresses in research and practical applications of phytoremediation for soil and water resources.
Biodegradation, Environmental ; Metals, Heavy ; metabolism ; Soil Pollutants ; metabolism ; Water Pollutants, Chemical ; metabolism

Using plants to remove or inactivate heavy metal pollutants from soils and surface waters provide a cheap and sustainable approach of Phytoremediation. However, field trials suggested that the efficiency of contaminant removal using natural hyperaccumulators is insufficient, due to that many of these species are slow growing and produce little shoot biomass. These factors severely constrain their potential for large-scale decontamination of polluted soils. Moreover, both the micronutrient and toxic metal content accumulated in crops determine the quality and safety of our food-chain. By a transgenic approach, the introduction of novel genes responsible for hyperaccumulating phenotype into high biomass plants and/or stable crops uptaking minerals as food is a promising strategy for the development of effective techniques of phytoremediation and improvement of nutritional value of stable food through a viable commercialization. Recently, the progress at molecular level for heavy metal uptaking, detoxification and hyperaccumulation in plants, and also the clarification of some functional genes in bacteria, yeasts, plants and animals, have advanced the research on genetic engineering plants of heavy metal resistance and accumulation, and on the functional genes (e . g. gsh1, MerA and ArsC) and their genetic transformated plants. These studies demonstrated commercialization potentials of phytoremediation. In this paper, the molecular approach, effects and problems in gene transformation were discussed in details, and also the strategy and emphases were probed into the future research.
Biodegradation, Environmental ; Genetic Engineering ; methods ; Metals, Heavy ; metabolism ; Plants, Genetically Modified ; genetics ; metabolism ; Soil Pollutants ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the influence of a broad range of environmental conditions on initial rates of hydrogen peroxide produced by Streptococcus oralis (S. oralis).

METHODSFor each rate measurement, 1 ml aliquots of 10(12) cells/L mid-logarithmic phase S. oralis in TSBY were centrifuged and respectively washed by phosphate buffer containing 0.01-10 mmol/L glucose or sucrose, phosphate buffer with 5.0-7.5 pH or Bis-Tris buffer containing 0.01-100 mmol/L Ca(2+), 0.01-100 mmol/L F(-) or 0.01-100 mmol/L HFPO(3)(-). After S. oralis was cultured in respective buffer for 10, 20 and 30 min at 37 degrees C, the concentration of hydrogen peroxide in supernatant was assayed spectrophotometrically in 96-well micro-plate by ABTS-HRP at A(405).

RESULTSSynthesis rate of hydrogen peroxide by S. oralis was 7.48 micromol/L per minute without carbohydrate, the synthesis rate of hydrogen peroxide by S. oralis increased with 0.01-10 mmol/L glucose and 0.01-10 mmol/L sucrose, but there was no statistically significant difference in synthesis rate among the carbohydrate groups. The rates of H2O2 synthesis were inhibited in the buffer at pH 5.0-6.0, compared with pH 7.0 (P < 0.05). Ca(2+) had little influence on the rate of H2O2 synthesis. IC(50) of H2O2 synthesis rates by S. oralis responded to FHPO(3)(-) and F(-) were 12.65 mmol/L and 1.90 mmol/L respectively.

CONCLUSIONSEnvironmental conditions may influence the synthesis rate of H2O2 by S. oralis.

OBJECTIVETo measure the contents of the water-soluble iron, five heavy metals and harmful elements in Magnetiturn and provide a basis for the quality control and safety evaluation of Magnetitum.

METHODIron (Fe), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS); arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) were determined by atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS).

RESULTThe mean content of element iron is 764.30 mg x kg(-1). The contents of five water-soluble heavy metals and harmful elements in Magnetitum were within the safety range. The recovery of the standard addition was in the range of 93.7% - 110.6%, and the RSD was less than 5.0%.

CONCLUSIONAnalyzing the water-soluble iron, heavy metals and harmful elements in Magnetitum is effective to the quality control and the safety evaluation of magnetitum.

Heavy metal pollution of soil is a significant environmental problem and has its negative impact on human health and agriculture. Rhizosphere, as an important interface of soil and plant, plays a significant role in phytoremediation of contaminated soil by heavy metals, in which, microbial populations are known to affect heavy metal mobility and availability to the plant through release of chelating agents, acidification, phosphate solubilization and redox changes, and therefore, have potential to enhance phytoremediation processes. Phytoremediation strategies with appropriate heavy metal-adapted rhizobacteria have received more and more attention. This article paper reviews some recent advances in effect and significance of rhizobacteria in phytoremediation of heavy metal contaminated soils. There is also a need to improve our understanding of the mechanisms involved in the transfer and mobilization of heavy metals by rhizobacteria and to conduct research on the selection of microbial isolates from rhizosphere of plants growing on heavy metal contaminated soils for specific restoration programmes.
Biodegradation, Environmental ; Biological Availability ; Metals, Heavy ; metabolism ; Plant Development ; Plants ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Rhizobiaceae ; metabolism ; Soil Microbiology ; Soil Pollutants ; metabolism

Two chromium-resistant bacterial strains CrT-1 and CrT-13, which can tolerate K2CrO4 up to 40 mg x mL(-1) on nutrient agar, 25 mg x mL(-1) K2 CrO4 in nutrient broth, and up to 10 mg x mL(-1) in acetate-minimal media, were used in this study. On the basis of 16S rRNA, strain CrT-1 was identified as Ochrobactrum intermedium and CrT-13 as Brevibacterium sp.. Uptake of chromate was greater in living cells than in heat-killed cells. Ochrobactrum intermedium CrT-1 reduced 73% and 41% of Cr(V) while Brevibacterium CrT-13 reduced 62% and 48% Cr(VI) at an initial chromate concentration of 750, and 1500 microg x mL(-1), after 96 hours with an inoculum size of 9.6 x 10(7) cells mL(-1). Different heavy metals at low concentrations did not affect the reduction potential of the strains significantly. Ochrobactrum intermedium CrT-1 reduced 84% and 65% while Brevibacterium CrT-13 reduced 60% and 44% of Cr(VI) at an initial Cr(VI) concentration of 250 and 500 microg x mL(-1), respectively, in an industrial effluent sample.
Bacteria ; metabolism ; Biodegradation, Environmental ; Chromium ; metabolism ; Industrial Waste ; Metals, Heavy ; pharmacology ; Oxidation-Reduction ; Water Pollutants, Chemical ; metabolism

Six heavy metals, including As, Cu, Hg, Cd, Pb and Cr in Panax notoginseng were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) combined with wet digestion method. The samples of P. notoginseng were collected in 12 different regions, including Yunnan and Guangxi Province. Green Standards of Foreign Trading Medicinal Plants & Preparations was used as the standard to evaluate the pollution status of As, Cu, Hg, Cd, Pb and Cr in P. notoginseng. The results showed that content of As and Cd exceeded the limit of the standard and the percentage was 32.4% and 29.7%, respectively, while Cu, Hg and Pb were all bellow the limit. The SPSS 16.0 software was used to analyze the data. The occurrence of contained heavy metals has been discussed.
China ; Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Metals, Heavy ; analysis ; metabolism ; Panax notoginseng ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Soil Pollutants ; analysis ; metabolism