Study of physiological mechanism in metal hyperaccumulating plants by total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) spectrometry (CAT#: STEM-ST-0215-WXH)

Introduction

A hyperaccumulator is a plant capable of growing in soil or water with very high concentrations of metals, absorbing these metals through their roots, and concentrating extremely high levels of metals in their tissues. Compared to non-hyperaccumulating species, hyperaccumulator roots extract the metal from the soil at a higher rate, transfer it more quickly to their shoots, and store large amounts in leaves and roots.
Hyperaccumulating plants are of interest for their ability to extract metals from the soils of contaminated sites (phytoremediation) to return the ecosystem to a less toxic state. The plants also hold potential to be used to mine metals from soils with very high concentrations (phytomining) by growing the plants, then harvesting them for the metals in their tissues.