The transcriptomic and metabolomic basis of heavy metal tolerance in Viola spp.

The project aims to identify the molecular and chemical mechanisms underlying tolerance to heavy metals in Viola spp. The project focuses mainly on an example of heavy metal excluder, Viola tricolor represented by two genotypes: metallicolous (MET), growing at polluted sites, and non-metallicolous (NMET), growing at non-polluted sites, both differing morphologically, genetically, and in the capability of accumulating heavy metals to indicate the genotype-dependent basis of tolerance to heavy metals. The additional aim is to investigate other heavy metal tolerant and non-tolerant Viola sp.

本项目旨在明确堇菜属（Viola spp.）植物耐受重金属的分子与化学机制。本项目主要以重金属排斥型物种的代表——三色堇（Viola tricolor）为研究对象，其包含两种基因型：分别生长于污染生境的金属耐受型（metallicolous, MET）与生长于非污染生境的非金属耐受型（non-metallicolous, NMET）。二者在形态学、遗传学特征以及重金属积累能力上均存在显著差异，以此揭示重金属耐受的基因型依赖基础。本项目的附加目标为探究其他具有重金属耐受与非耐受特性的堇菜属（Viola sp.）物种。