Open Access
REVIEW
Assessment of Castor Plant (Ricinus communis L.) Tolerance to Heavy Metal Stress-A Review
Akwasi Yeboah1, Jiannong Lu1, Ting Yang1, Yuzhen Shi1, Hanna Amoanimaa-Dede1, Kwadwo Gyapong Agyenim Boateng2, Xuegui Yin1,*
1 Department of Crop Breeding and Genetics, College of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China
2 The National Engineering Laboratory for Crop Molecular Breeding, MARA Key Laboratory of Soybean Biology (Beijing), Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China
* Corresponding Author: Xuegui Yin. Email:
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Crop Production under Abiotic Stress: Physiological and Molecular Interventions)
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2020, 89(3), 453-472. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2020.09267
Received 27 November 2019; Accepted 09 January 2020; Issue published 22 June 2020
Abstract
Increased urbanization and industrialization have greatly contributed to
the emission of higher amount of heavy metals such as cadmium, nickel, and lead
into the environment. These metals are non-biodegradable and toxic, causing
much effects on plants and by extension to animals and humans, which have
become a major global concern. The inherent ability of plants to resist heavy
metal toxicity seems to be the most sustainable and cost-effective strategy. Castor
plant is widely studied due to its tolerance to the effects of heavy metal contaminated soils, owing to its large biomass content and high accumulating capacity.
Castor plants to some extent can tolerate elevated levels of heavy metals through
several developed mechanisms, such as activation of antioxidant enzymes, exclusion, accumulation of proline, compartmentalization, organic acid exudation, and
phytochelatins. Molecular studies have identified some stress-responsive to aid
the tolerance of heavy metals in castor. Stress caused by heavy metal toxicity
affects seedling growth, biomass, photosynthetic pigments, protein level, and
nutrient uptake of castor plant. The response of castor, however, to these stresses
differs among cultivars, metal type and concentration, and time of metal applied.
This review aims to summarize the physiological responses and various defense
mechanisms of castor to tolerate and eradicate heavy metal toxicity and some
stress-responsive genes identified at transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels
that confer metal tolerance in this plant.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Yeboah, A., Lu, J., Yang, T., Shi, Y., Amoanimaa-Dede, H. et al. (2020). Assessment of Castor Plant (
Ricinus communis L.) Tolerance to Heavy Metal Stress-A Review.
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, 89(3), 453–472. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2020.09267
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