Uptake of Organic Pollutants and the Effects on Plants

AbstractAgricultural ecosystems contain many harmful organic pollutants that not only can stop human life but threaten plant life and pose dangers to its integrity, affect health, and disrupt various functions. The organic pollutants mainly include antibiotics, herbicides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), bisphenol A (BPA), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). This chapter identifies some key areas and issues necessary to understand and focus on organic pollutants. Numerous research studies have focused on the effects and accumulation of organic pollutants in crops and their potential to disturb the food chain. Moreover, much emphasis has been put on different uptake and driving mechanisms behind organic pollutants, and efforts are directed to discover more effects at a molecular level. These commonly found organic pollutants are responsible for disrupting various plant parts and functions such as membranes, nuclear functions, uptake functions, and other anomalies. Similarly, these organic pollutants have the potential to induce genotoxic, carcinogenic, xenobiotic, and endogenic effects. It is considered to be a large area of research with many singularities yet to be discovered. This study identifies certain existing knowledge that can illuminate existing issues and motivate future researchers and scholars to contribute their knowledge to address certain issues.KeywordsOrganic pollutantsPlant uptakeXenobioticToxicity