Molecular Mechanisms of Plant Responses to Heavy Metal Stress
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2025 | Viewed by 800
Special Issue Editors
Interests: tree; heavy metals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Heavy Metal Pollution: Plant Adaptive Mechanisms and Phytoremediation Strategies.
Heavy metal (HM) pollution poses significant challenges to agricultural and ecosystem health. Understanding the complex physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms by which plants respond to HM stress is essential for selecting appropriate plants that can mitigate metal toxicity. This knowledge is crucial for alleviating soil and water contamination through optimized phytoremediation strategies. Recent research has highlighted adaptive adjustment strategies of plants under HM stress, revealing a range of physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses. However, gaps remain in our understanding of how plants perceive, respond to, and adapt to HM exposure, particularly under multiple stress conditions. Bridging these gaps is vital for developing innovative strategies to enhance plant resilience and productivity in HM-polluted environments.
This research topic aims to compile cutting-edge studies and comprehensive reviews to elucidate plant adaptive strategies under HM stress. The main objectives include exploring plant physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses to HM exposure, understanding mechanisms of HM-induced oxidative stress, and identifying holistic solutions to improve plant recovery capabilities under complex environmental conditions. Specific questions to address include how plants perceive and respond to HM stress at the molecular level, what the key genes and metabolic pathways involved in HM tolerance are, how omics approaches can reveal HM tolerance mechanisms, and how plants epigenetically respond to HM stimuli.
To further understand plant adaptive mechanisms under HM stress, we welcome submissions discussing, but not limited to, the following topics:
- Characterizing plant uptake, accumulation, distribution, and detoxification processes of HMs, including competition with nutrient uptake;
- Genome-wide identification, comparison, and evolutionary analysis of plant ion transporter protein (including metal ion transporter protein) families;
- Clarifying the genetic and molecular basis of plant adaptation to HM accumulation, with a focus on signaling pathways and metabolic adjustments;
- Utilizing omics methods to reveal mechanisms of plant tolerance to HMs, including tolerance mechanisms in hyperaccumulators and perennial plants (woody species);
- Investigating mechanisms of HM-induced oxidative stress, the roles of ROS and RNS, and their dependent signaling pathways;
- Conducting functional validation and in-depth physiological studies of key genes and proteins involved in HM tolerance and stress recovery;
- Studying plant stress responses to HMs under multiple stress factors or with exogenous substance additions to determine the physiological and molecular mechanisms of plant responses to complex signaling under HM stress.
Dr. Fang He
Dr. Mengxue Niu
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- heavy metal pollution
- plant adaptive mechanisms
- phytoremediation strategies
- oxidative stress
- molecular responses
- genetic tolerance
- omics approaches
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