Response of Plants to Potentially Toxic Element (PTE) Stress
A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Toxicity Reduction and Environmental Remediation".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 46
Special Issue Editors
Interests: contaminated soils; soil remediation; heavy metals; arsenic; phytoremediation; organic amendments; ecotoxicity; bioenergetic crops; biochar
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The intensified accumulation of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) (metals and metalloids) in soils and water resources represents a serious threat to ecosystems and human health. Phytoremediation is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective biotechnology that uses plants for the treatment of a wide range of pollutants in the environment. This technique has proven suitable for environmental restoration when applied under appropriate circumstances. Nevertheless, plants can only tolerate PTE concentrations up to a threshold value, above which toxicity appears and prompts oxidative damage or even plant death. Since different plant species vary significantly in their response to PTE toxicity, it is critical to study alterations in plant stress indicators. Gaining knowledge about these changes can not only improve the effectiveness of phytoremediation strategies, but also provide reliable biomarkers that allow the development and success of environmental restoration processes to be monitored.
This Special Issue will focus on plant responses to PTE exposure by fostering a deep understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that plants employ to mitigate toxicity (uptake, transport and sequestration of the contaminants, synthesis of protective metabolites, etc.), whether in a phytoremediation scenario or in any other agroecosystem. The aim of this Special Issue is to compile state-of-art studies that consolidate current knowledge about the functioning of plants when facing PTE stress.
Dr. Rafael Clemente
Guest Editor
Dr. M J Alvarez-Robles
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- potentially toxic elements (PTEs)
- plant oxidative stress
- soil contamination
- phytoremediation
- risk assessment
- abiotic stress
- toxicity mitigation
- biomarkers
- antioxidant activity
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