Costs and Tradeoffs in Plant Adaptation and Acclimation to Metals

Despite the clear evidence of metallic trace elements’ phytotoxicity, the presence of their elevated concentration in the soil contributes to (micro)evolutionary changes that force the development of adaptive mechanisms in plants, enabling them to survive and reproduce in harsh edaphic conditions. This has resulted in highly specialized plant communities, called metallophytes, which demonstrate unique behavioral, morphological, structural, and physiological traits distinguishing them from individuals that appear in unpolluted areas.

Metallophytes are particularly useful organisms for holistic studies that involve mechanisms controlling both plant reactions to metals and their defense strategies, still not fully uncovered. From the practical point of view, metal-tolerant plants are an extremely valuable material for reclamation and phytoremediation purposes, while the deeper insight into adaptation and acclimation strategies may accelerate the development of resistant varieties for a wide range of applications in metal-contaminated areas.

Taken together, broadening the knowledge on an organism’s ability to repair metal-induced damage and describing the networks that make a life of stressed plants easier, not only represents the current challenges in the field of stress biology, but also may be helpful in preventing undesirable ecological changes taking place in the world around us.

This Research Topic aims to identify novel findings on plant tolerance and acclimation to metals. We expect high-quality original articles, reviews, and all article types that include but are not limited to the following topics:

· metallophytes and their specific morphological, behavioral, and physiological characteristics

· metal adaptation and acclimation mechanisms functioning from cellular to the whole plant level

· structural, physiological, and molecular responses of plants to metals

· plant defense strategies against metal stress

· role of plant-microorganism interactions in metal stress alleviation

· practical applications of plants with metal tolerance traits for phytoremediation and the other potential uses of metallophytes