Searching for Genes Involved in Metal Tolerance, Uptake, and Transport

Despite the recent exploitation of high-throughput methodologies such as cDNA microarrays, the overall picture of plant metal tolerance, accumulation, and translocation is far from complete. Understanding of this network would be beneficial for the optimization of the phytoremediation technique. This chapter compiles the key approaches in the search for novel genes from model plant species as well as other organisms, and briefly describes the genes known thus far to be involved in metal homeostasis in plants. In addition to unravelling the genes, the functional connections between genes, proteins, metabolites, and mineral ions should be understood. Thus, to get a full understanding of the processes, different analytical methods are needed. The main focus of this chapter is in the “omic” technologies, such as transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, and their potential in the discovery or analysis of the molecules that may play a significant role in metal tolerance, accumulation, and translocation in plants.