Amazing Chemistry: Discoveries and Promises of the 21st Century

Chapter: “The Revealed Secrets of Plant Strategies”

Leonardo da Vinci liked to say, “Go and learn from Nature.” You don’t have to be a botanist to marvel at the diversity of plants around us. It can also be surprising to discover the subtle mechanisms plants use to establish themselves in their environment and protect themselves from their enemies.

For example, certain plant species are capable of growing on land heavily contaminated with trace metals and can even sequester highly toxic pollutants in their leaves. They can therefore offer innovative solutions for soil remediation. Some of these plants develop adaptation strategies so surprising that they are referred to as plant “madness.” To better understand this, it is necessary to study them at the molecular level—the level of chemistry.

Author: Claude Grison

CNRS Éditions
, April 15, 2021

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