Gene expression in cadmium-tolerant Datura innoxia: detection and characterization of cDNAs induced in response to Cd2+.

The response of a metal tolerant plant to heavy metal stress involves a number of biochemical pathways. To investigate the overall molecular response of a metal-tolerant plant to heavy-metal exposure, suppressive subtractive hybridization was used to create a library enriched in cadmium-induced cDNAs from cadmium-tolerant Datura innoxia. Two differential screening steps were used to screen the cadmium-induced library resulting in 8 putative cadmium-specific cDNAs out of a pool of 94 clones.

Field, laboratory, and X-ray absorption spectroscopic studies of mercury accumulation by water hyacinths.

We have studied water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), a non-native nuisance plant found in the in San Francisco Bay Delta region, for its potential to phytoremediate mercury. Mercury is a common contaminant in San Francisco Bay Area waters because of gold mining activities. In this study, speciation of mercury in hyacinth roots and shoots, rates of mercury uptake by hyacinths in the laboratory, and mercury levels near the Big Break Region in the Delta were studied.