Fitochelatine research in environmental stress conditions by heavy metals: a report for cancer prevention

Abstract

Phytochelatins (PCs) are cytoplasmic plants proteins, glutathione (GSH) derived, capable of chelating heavy metals present in culture environments. This mechanism allows plants to reduce the toxicity due to these metals and preserves its organoleptic qualities, with positive consequences also for the man who feeds on them. The qualitative-quantitative synthesis of Phytochelatins in response to the presence of metals depends on the plants characteristics so that different plants or different “cultivars” show distinctive tolerance to them. In the present study we compared three plant cell line, which differ in heavy metals tolerance, grown with two types of soils with divergent concentrations of nutritional and toxic metals elements. By analyzing the concentration of component amino acids of the biopeptides in the three plant cell line we could better understand the mechanisms responsible for tolerance to toxic metals. Moreover our results suggest that the metals in the environment when present, without exceeding the levels of acute toxicity, stimulate the plant cells to synthesize GSH and/or PCs in stressful conditions. Taken together, these preliminary data would be conceivable to think that PCs should be involved in the assessment of the environmental impact and adaptive capacity of vegetables for food use. Furthermore, that could be useful to plan a specific project of nutritional diet for people who lived in High Environmental Risk area.

Keywords

• heavy metals
• chelants
• phytochelatine