Zinc in plants - An overview

Owing to continuous development of knowledge at a biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics levels, essential progresses to understand the mechanisms underlying the threshold of Zn toxicity has been achieved. Following this background, Zn uptake and translocation and its functions in plants are described, being its toxic effect on growth, photosynthetic activity and oxidative stress discussed. The extent of plant injury by elevated Zn concentrations is also assessed, considering its specific and strong dependence on the environmental conditions and availability of other heavy metals.