The Relationship between Cadmium Toxicity and the Modulation of Epigenetic Traits in Plants.

Elevated concentrations of heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) have a negative impact on staple crop production due to their ability to elicit cytotoxic and genotoxic effects on plants. In order to understand the relationship between Cd stress and plants in an effort to improve Cd tolerance, studies have identified genetic mechanisms which could be important for conferring stress tolerance. In recent years epigenetic studies have garnered much attention and hold great potential in both improving the understanding of Cd stress in plants as well as revealing candidate mechanisms for future work.

Keep talking: crosstalk between iron and sulfur networks fine-tunes growth and development to promote survival under iron limitation.

Plants are capable of synthesizing all the molecules necessary to complete their life cycle from minerals, water, and light. This plasticity, however, comes at a high energetic cost and therefore plants need to regulate their economy and allocate resources accordingly. Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are at the center of photosynthesis, respiration, amino acid, and DNA metabolism.