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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Measuring Fluxes of Mineral Nutrients and Toxicants in Plants with Radioactive Tracers
Published on: August 22, 2014
Environmental processes affecting plant root uptake of radioactive trace elements and variability of transfer factor
Sabine Ehlke1, Gerald Kirchner
1Department of Physics, University of Bremen, Germany. kirchner@physik.uni-bremen.de
Abstract:
Soil-to-plant transfer factors are commonly used to estimate the food chain transfer of radionuclides. Their definition assumes that the concentration of a radionuclide in a plant relates linearly solely to its average concentration in the rooting zone of the soil. However, the large range of transfer factors reported in the literature shows that the concentration of a radionuclide in a soil is not the only factor influencing its uptake by a plant. With emphasis on radiocesium and -strontium, this paper reviews the effects of competition with major ions present in the soil-plant system, the effects of rhizosphere processes and soil micro-organisms on bioavailability, the factors influencing transport to and uptake by roots and the processes affecting long-term uptake rates. Attention is given to summarizing the results of recent novel electrophysiological and genetic techniques which provide a physiologically based understanding of the processes involved in the uptake and translocation of radiocesium and -strontium by plants.
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Transcription
Transcription is the process of synthesizing RNA from a DNA sequence by RNA polymerase. It is the first step in producing a protein from a gene sequence. Additionally, many other proteins and regulatory sequences are involved in the proper synthesis of messenger RNA (mRNA). Regulation of transcription is responsible for the differentiation of all the different types of cells and often for the proper cellular response to environmental signals.
Transcription Can Produce Different Kinds...
Water and Mineral Acquisition
Key Elements for Plant Nutrition
Biological Effects of Radiation
Microbes and Other Elemental Cycles
Microbial Bioremediation of Uranium

