UTAB: a computer database on residues of xenobiotic organic chemicals and heavy metals in plants

The UTAB Database contains information concerned with the uptake/accumulation, translocation, adhesion, and biotransformation of both xenobiotic organic chemicals and heavy metals by vascular plants. UTAB can be used to estimate the accumulation of chemicals in vegetation and their subsequent movement through the food chain. The database contains actual data from papers in the published literature dating from 1926 for organic chemicals and from 1976 for heavy metals. At present the database is comprised of more than 37,000 records pertaining to 900 different organic chemicals, 21 heavy metals, and over 350 plant species. Each record contains information on a single combination of species, chemical, and dose. Other information includes the application and destination sites, amount accumulated, rates of uptake or translocation, products and sites of biotransformation, experimental condition parameters, and the source paper. Thus, the database can be used to quickly obtain specific data pertaining to a chemical, plant species, mine spoil, etc. or it can be used for the comparative analysis of a set of data pertaining to groups of chemicals and plants.