Air Pollution and Plant Biotechnology

Air pollution is ubiquitous in industrialized societies, causing a host of environmental problems. It is thus essential to monitor and reduce pollution levels. A number of plant species already are being exploited as detectors (for phytomonitoring) and as scavengers (for phytoremediation) of air pollutants. With advances in biotechnology, it is now feasible to modify plants for a wider range of phytomonitoring and phytoremediation applications. This text presents results in this field, including plant responses during phytomonitoring, pollution-resistant plant species, imaging diagnosis of plant responses and the use of novel transgenic plants, along with reviews of basic plant physiology and biochemistry where appropriate. It is designed for researchers and students working in plant biotechnology and the environmental sciences or considering new areas of investigation.