Abstract
The arsenic hyperaccumulator fern Pteris vitta L. has high ability to uptake and storage arsenic in its body. After the first report by Ma et al, this peculiar fern has been expected as the strong candidate for the technology to reduce an arsenic pollution in the environment. This using plant technology, called as phytoremediation, is based on the plantphysiological processes, i.e., uptake of the elements by the plant roots, transfer it to the shoots, and storage in the tissues.
To reveal the mechanisms of hyperaccumulation, the processes of metal accumulation must be understood as the continuous flow of the element between the plant organs and/or in the tissue. For this purpose, we have exploited very useful analytical technique, synchrotoron radiation X-ray fluorescence imaging by utilizing X-ray microbeam, to observe the elements distribution and its changes. In this presentation, we introduce our experimental results obtained through this technique.
