Plant Responses to Metalloid Accumulation

Metalloid contamination in the environment has increased tremendously in recent years. Several physiochemical techniques have been followed throughout the world to remove this from the environment. Plants have been shown to be able to remove metalloids from the environment. High accumulation of metalloids, such as arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), aluminum (Al), boron (B), selenium (Se), germanium (Ge), and silicon (Si), has been noted in plants. Accumulation of metalloids causes toxicity leading to impairment of various essential metabolic and biochemical events in plants. Efficient efflux mechanisms and antioxidative defense systems help plants to detoxify and tolerate high levels of metalloids. Plants possess immense potential for remediation of metalloids present in the environment and can thus form an important component of technologies that can be developed to remove metalloids from the environment.