This fern eats arsenic, and scientists finally know how
Xu Q, Wang W, Zhang Y, Chang Y, Liu X
Phytoremediation
If you've ever wondered whether that vacant industrial lot near your neighborhood could ever be replanted, this fern's toxin-sucking trick is one of the tools researchers use to clean up sites like it without excavation.
There's a fern named Pteris vittata that does something almost no other plant can: it sucks arsenic, a nasty toxic metal, right out of the soil and locks it away inside its leaves without dying. Researchers reviewed decades of studies to map out exactly which proteins in the fern's roots grab the arsenic, ferry it up the stem, and neutralize it once it's inside. Understanding this pipeline means scientists can now think about breeding or engineering plants that clean up arsenic-contaminated land faster and more reliably.
Key Findings
Identifies over a dozen specific transporter proteins (including PvPht1;1-3, PvACR2, PvACR3 variants) responsible for arsenic uptake, translocation, and accumulation in the fern
Reviews the roles of rhizosphere bacteria in mobilizing and chemically converting arsenic (oxidizing AsIII, reducing AsV) before plant uptake
Highlights specific detoxification genes (PvGAPC1, PvOCT4, PvGSTF1) that let the fern tolerate arsenic levels that would kill most other plants
chevron_right Technical Summary
A fern called Chinese brake fern can pull arsenic out of contaminated soil and store it safely in its own tissue, and scientists now understand the specific proteins that let it do this. That knowledge could help engineer better cleanup plants for arsenic-polluted land near old mines, factories, and pesticide-treated fields.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Arsenic hyperaccumulation in Pteris vittata: A critical review on mechanisms of rhizospheric mobilization, xylem transport and cellular detoxification.
Arsenic (As) is carcinogenic toxicity and widespread in soils due to intensive arsenical pesticide application and industrial activities. Pteris vittata (P. vittata) is the first reported As hypera...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Ancient Amazonian forests were planted and tended by Indigenous farmers
Forests and fruits we romanticize as wild — including many plants now in our kitchens and gardens — may exist in their current abundance precisely because an...
Pteris vittata, the Chinese brake, Chinese ladder brake, or simply ladder brake, is a fern species in the Pteridoideae subfamily of the Pteridaceae. It is indigenous to Asia, southern Europe, tropical Africa, and Australia. The type specimen was collected in China by Pehr Osbeck.