The assembly of metals chelation by thiols and vacuolar compartmentalization conferred increased tolerance to and accumulation of cadmium and arsenic in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana.

Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana were developed to increase tolerance for and accumulation of heavy metals and metalloids by simultaneous overexpression of AsPCS1 and YCF1 (derived from garlic and baker's yeast) based on the fact that chelation of metals and vacuolar compartmentalization are the main strategies for heavy metals/metalloids detoxification and tolerance in plants. Dual-gene transgenic lines had the longest roots and the highest accumulation of Cd and As than single-gene transgenic lines and wildtype. When grown on cadmium or arsenic (arsenite/arsenate), Dual-gene transgenic lines accumulated over 2-10 folds cadmium/arsenite and 2-3 folds arsenate than wild type or plants expressing AsPCS1 or YCF1 alone. Such stacking modified genes involved in chelation of toxic metals and vacuolar compartmentalization represents a highly promising new tool for use in phytoremediation efforts.