heavy metals, excluders, hyperaccumulators, phytoremediation
Abstract
Plants have a wide range of mechanisms which can be activated in the processes of heavy metal detoxification and tolerance. The most successful mechanisms have been developed by specific plant species, known as hyperaccumulators, which may accumulate enormous concentrations of these dangerous pollutants in their above ground parts. This is a strategy which was efficiently exploited for phytoremediation purposes, as a relatively new, but economically and environmentaly highly sufficient technology for the soil and water remediation.