Sulfur metabolism in higher plants: potential for phytoremediation

Sulfur is a major nutrient for all organisms. Plant species have a high biodiversity in uptake, metabolization and accumulation of sulfur so that there are potentials to use plants for phytoremediation of sulfur-enriched sites. A survey of soils enriched with sulfur either naturally or by human activities shows that a surplus of sulfur is mostly accompanied with a surplus of other chemical elements which may limit phytoremediation because these co-occurring elements are more toxic to plants than sulfur. In addition, the accumulation of the other elements makes the plant material (phyto-extraction) less suitable for the use as fodder and for human consumption.