Research Seminar - Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment

Professor Feibo Wu from the Zhejiang University, China will present 'Heavy Metal Toxicity and Accumulation in Plants: A Case Study on Cadmium Tolerance in Barley'. 

Seminar abstract: Cadmium is a non-essential, toxic heavy metal for plants, animals and humans. Recently, soil Cd contamination has posed a serious problem for safe food production and become a potential agricultural and environmental hazard worldwide mainly due to industrial emission, the application of Cd containing sewage sludge and phosphate fertilizers and municipal waste disposal. Meanwhile, Cd contamination is a non-reversible accumulation process, and high plant-soil mobility to be easily accumulated in plant tissues. Furthermore, Cd is believed to cause damage even at very low concentrations, and healthy plants may contain levels of Cd that are toxic to mammals. In humans, Cd accumulates mainly in kidney and liver, and leads to pulmonary emphysema and renal tubular damage.

Extreme cases of chronic Cd toxicity can result in osteomalacia and bone fractures, as characterized by the disease called Itai-Itai in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s, where local populations were exposed to Cd-contaminated food crops. Considering the huge scale of contaminated farmlands in China, breeding of crop cultivars tolerant to Cd toxicity and with low Cd accumulation in edible parts would be a cost-effective and practical substitute mode to fully utilize natural resource and guarantee safe food production. Accordingly, it is imperative to elucidate the mechanism of Cd accumulation/tolerance for developing low Cd accumulation cultivars to minimize soil-to-plant transfer of Cd and increase food production for a rapidly increasing world population.

Further information about Professor Wu can be found here(opens in a new window)

The seminar will be followed by drinks and nibbles available in the foyer of L9. No RSVP is required.