{"title":"A review of toxicity and remediation: thorium uptake by woody plants","authors":"P. K. Manigandan","doi":"10.1007/s10532-026-10335-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Thorium is an extremely radioactive and hazardous material and there is increasing concern over the environmental impact of thorium on the health of soils. There have been a limited number of investigations into phytotoxicity, phytoremediation, and the mechanisms of thorium absorption by woody plants. The purpose of this review is to assess the impact of thorium on soil's physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and quantify how much thorium is available for woody plant uptake and how much thorium will be moved around within different parts of the plant. This review also examines the bioavailability, mobility and root uptake of thorium by woody plants. The extent to which woody plants absorb thorium has been reviewed according to three activity concentration rates: low, moderate and high. Furthermore, literature was reviewed and analyzed as to how woody plant absorption may be influenced by having elevated quantities of thorium in the soil, which exceeds the toxic threshold. Thorium adversely affects all living things through hindering seed germination, reducing plant growth, inhibiting photosynthetic rate, and reducing the plants’ ability to absorb nutrients; thorium has not been demonstrated to have any biological function. Woody Plants can employ several methods to combat the negative effects of thorium, such as producing phytochelatins, utilizing multiple compartments for storing thorium, and producing many different types of enzymes that function as antioxidants. Therefore, there are numerous technologically based and microbially based methods available for remediating thorium-contaminated soils, one of which is the use of specific plant species as remedial agents. Finally, a thorough review of literature was performed to identify all native woody plants that are best adapted for phytoremediation of thorium-contaminated soils and the mechanisms used by these native woody plant species to protect themselves from the toxic effects of thorium contamination were determined.</p><h3>Graphical abstract</h3>\n<div><figure><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></figure></div></div>","PeriodicalId":486,"journal":{"name":"Biodegradation","volume":"37 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biodegradation","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10532-026-10335-5","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOTECHNOLOGY & APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Thorium is an extremely radioactive and hazardous material and there is increasing concern over the environmental impact of thorium on the health of soils. There have been a limited number of investigations into phytotoxicity, phytoremediation, and the mechanisms of thorium absorption by woody plants. The purpose of this review is to assess the impact of thorium on soil's physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and quantify how much thorium is available for woody plant uptake and how much thorium will be moved around within different parts of the plant. This review also examines the bioavailability, mobility and root uptake of thorium by woody plants. The extent to which woody plants absorb thorium has been reviewed according to three activity concentration rates: low, moderate and high. Furthermore, literature was reviewed and analyzed as to how woody plant absorption may be influenced by having elevated quantities of thorium in the soil, which exceeds the toxic threshold. Thorium adversely affects all living things through hindering seed germination, reducing plant growth, inhibiting photosynthetic rate, and reducing the plants’ ability to absorb nutrients; thorium has not been demonstrated to have any biological function. Woody Plants can employ several methods to combat the negative effects of thorium, such as producing phytochelatins, utilizing multiple compartments for storing thorium, and producing many different types of enzymes that function as antioxidants. Therefore, there are numerous technologically based and microbially based methods available for remediating thorium-contaminated soils, one of which is the use of specific plant species as remedial agents. Finally, a thorough review of literature was performed to identify all native woody plants that are best adapted for phytoremediation of thorium-contaminated soils and the mechanisms used by these native woody plant species to protect themselves from the toxic effects of thorium contamination were determined.
期刊介绍：
Biodegradation publishes papers, reviews and mini-reviews on the biotransformation, mineralization, detoxification, recycling, amelioration or treatment of chemicals or waste materials by naturally-occurring microbial strains, microbial associations, or recombinant organisms.
Coverage spans a range of topics, including Biochemistry of biodegradative pathways; Genetics of biodegradative organisms and development of recombinant biodegrading organisms; Molecular biology-based studies of biodegradative microbial communities; Enhancement of naturally-occurring biodegradative properties and activities. Also featured are novel applications of biodegradation and biotransformation technology, to soil, water, sewage, heavy metals and radionuclides, organohalogens, high-COD wastes, straight-, branched-chain and aromatic hydrocarbons; Coverage extends to design and scale-up of laboratory processes and bioreactor systems. Also offered are papers on economic and legal aspects of biological treatment of waste.
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