Soilcontamination by heavy metals is one of the main environmental hazards in theworld, and it may enter the human food chain through crops. Recently, with thehelp of a new type of genetic engineering technology, the research group led byprofessor Cao Shuqing has discovered a new system which could use plants toabsorb the toxic substance: Cadmium, and then archiving and isolatingit.

According to the first national soil survey, there isnearly 20% farmland has the problem of heavy metal contamination. And theseheavy metals are able to be absorbed into the food chain via crops, which wouldseriously affect the food safety and endanger public health as well. It isknown that the factors of causing the heavy metal pollution in soil are quitecomplicated, including industrial emission, fertilizer using, ore mining and soon. At present, solving the problem by physical or chemical means can beextraordinary difficult and it is apt to cause secondary pollution.

After the long-term research, the research group of ProfessorCao in School of Biological and Food Engineering of Hefei University of Technologyhas made great progress in dealing with heavy metal pollution of soil, byadopting new phytoremediation technologies. They firstly discovered the molecular mechanism which was being transduced bythe responding of heavy metal cadmium in which cadmium could be transduced bythe responding of plants. This mechanism could help plants growing lushly inthe soil which has been polluted by cadmium, and absorbing this toxic substanceinto their vacuoles.

“If we take the plants which have absorbed cadmium forprocessing, the heavy metal content in soil will be largely diminished.”Professor Cao said they had carried out the test using a kind of plant calledArabidopsis, and a large number of good results had been received.

Recently, the original achievements were published on NewPhytologist. In addition, Professor Cao’sresearch group is launching further study on Phytoremediation mechanisms withother heavy metals such as arsenic and lead. They also devote themselves in exploringthe industrialization.

Date:2014.11.6   

Source: China's Investment Advisory Network