Heavy metal-mediated changes in growth and phytochemicals of edible and medicinal plants

Abstract

One of the most important kinds of environmental contaminates is heavy metals pollution. Plants which are exposing to high metal concentrations illustrate down regulated growth and development. Various alterations in the medical plants production of bioactive compounds have been documented. On the other hand, many researches have illustrated the high toxic residuals of heavy metals in several parts of medical plants which are potent to cause hazard to human health. Interestingly, phytoremediation is most effective and promising methods among several strategies already used to clean up the environment from heavy metals. Medical plants with high potential in heavy metal accumulation can be good candidates for soil heavy metal remediation. The cultivation or deliberate usage of medical plants in soil polluted by heavy metals must be managed carefully to diminish the final heavy metal residuals in marketing products. This chapter explains the mechanisms of plants heavy metal tolerance, the studies on transgenic plants tolerant to heavy metals, heavy metal impacts on medical plant growth and metabolites, phytoremediation ability of medical plants and standard heavy metal residuals concentration in medical plants.