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Heavy metals and metalloids are toxic for living organisms through oxidative and/or genotoxic mechanisms (1). Among them, the nonessential element arsenic (As) is known to be a poison and also to promote various cancers (skin, lungs, and kidneys) in humans. Exposure to As occurs mainly by drinking contaminated water (2) or eating plant food originating from As-polluted soils. This happens particularly in Asian populations with diets relying mainly on rice (3). As sources in the environment are natural or the result of human activities (Fig. 1). It is worthwhile to note that As-contaminated water of some Asian regions is often associated with reducing conditions occurring in paddy soils, which are known to facilitate As mobilization from ferric oxides. Such a situation can explain As contamination of rice grains, which leads to a serious public health problem (4). Understanding As tolerance in plants is potentially useful knowledge for solving this problem. In this context, the paper by Song et al. (5) in PNAS is of primary importance, because it reports identification of the transporters responsible for arsenite detoxification by plant vacuoles.
Fig. 1.
Schematic representation of the As cycle in the environment and plants. Equilibrium between arsenate [As(V)] and arsenite [As(III)] in soil solutions is mainly dependent on the redox conditions. Arsenate is taken up by roots by phosphate transporters (P), and arsenite is taken up by a subclass of aquaporins (NIP), some of them also transporting silicon (Si). Methylated forms of As (MetAs) are also taken up by NIP and Si transporters. Inside plants, these types of transporters are …
Arsenic tolerance in plants: “Pas de deux” between phytochelatin synthesis and ABCC vacuolar transporters
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