Cadmium contamination and the role of

bioaccumulator plant as a remediation agent

Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 2014, 020126 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5054530
Published Online: 21 September 2018

Charles Charles, and Dwi Setyo Rini

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© 2018 Author(s).
Cadmium Contamination and The Role of Bioaccumulator
Plant as a Remediation Agent
Charles Charles1,a) and Dwi Setyo Rini2,b)
1
Biotechnology Department of Undergraduate Program Surya University,
Jl. M.H. Thamrin Km 2.7 Tangerang, Banten 15810, INDONESIA
2
Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Cibinong Science Center (CSC), Jl.
Jakarta-Bogor, Km. 46, Cibinong 16911 INDONESIA

E-mail: a) charles56035@gmail.com; b) dw.setyo19@gmail.com

Abstract. Non-essential heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) are one of pollutants in environment which cannot be
degraded naturally and induce toxicity in living things. Cadmium has already been polluted the environment which is
highly dispreaded by human activities like metal coating industry. Around 13.000 tons of cadmium from human
activities have already contributed to release of 30.000 tons in environment. In humans, the excess amount of
cadmium can cause the potential health risk via consumption of polluted food crops and it can adversely effects the
kidney and causes the bone damage. Cadmium is able to generate the damage because it has ability to mimic the
properties of calcium and then inhibits the activity of a protein sensor in the organs. One of the ways to reduce
cadmium levels in contaminated land area is by using bioaccumulator plants in phytoremediation technique.
Phytoremediation technique offers a low-cost technique by using various plant families that have a high tolerance
capability to accumulate heavy metals. This ability is supported by transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene to
encoding protein transporter such, as ZIP (ZRT, IRT-like protein), NRAMP (natural resistance-associated
macrophage protein), and cation transporter, which play in an important role to absorb cadmium from contaminated
land area.

INTRODUCTION

Heavy metals are naturally existing in nature, such as in earth’s crust, in soils and in rocks and they have a
density of more than 5 g/cm3. The presence of heavy metals increase due to human activities, such as industrial
and mining activities [1-2]. Substance of heavy metal cannot be degraded naturally, and they will be
accumulated in soil, water, and air. Heavy metals which are consumed by organisms will induce adverse effects
to the health, such as a nervous system damage, due to its toxicity [2-3].
Cadmium (Cd) is a constituent that belongs to the metal category. Cadmium is a non-essential heavy metal
and can causes disease, such as cancer and kidney damage [4-5]. The U.S. environmental protection agency
(EPA), international agency for research on cancer (IARC), and agency for toxic substances and disease registry
(ATSDR) state that cadmium is carcinogenic (class 1) and ranked as the 7 th of the 20 carcinogenic elements [6].
The process to reduce the pollution in environment requires the knowledge about the sources of pollution, the
level of pollution, the wide of pollution, the type of pollutant, and field handling. There are several ways
regarding to the field handling, such as physiochemical methods, soil processing, irrigation water treatment, and
bioaccumulator plant application [7].

DISCUSSION

Source of cadmium contamination

Cadmium is the most abundant heavy metals found in the environment, such as in the earth’s crust (0.15-0.2
µ g/g) through volcanic activity and rock weathering [8-9]. The natural resources play an important role in

International Conference on Science and Applied Science (ICSAS) 2018

AIP Conf. Proc. 2014, 020126-1–020126-6; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5054530
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1730-4/$30.00

020126-1
cadmium cycle in nature, but do not increase the concentration of cadmium in nature [9]. The concentrations of
cadmium increased due to human activities, such as metal coating industry, baterries production, metal ore
processing, and phosphate fertilizer. In phosphate fertilizers, cadmium compound can reach >50 mg kg -1. Every
year, it is estimated that about 30.000 tons of cadmium pollute the environment, and 13.000 tons of cadmium are
produced from human activity [10-12].
The processing of xanthochroite meal ore, optative carbonate, and cadmium oxide also produces cadmium as
a by-product [10] [13]. Waste of industrial and agricultural sectors which is not managed properly will cause
cadmium to enter the environment and will be spread to the living things through the food chain [14-16].

Cases of cadmium contamination

The case of cadmium contamination which has been quite popular in the world, was found in 1912 in Jianzu
River Valley, Toyoma Prefecture, Japan, where the diseases caused by Cd contamination in humans is called as
itae-itae disease. This pollution case occurred when the mining company (Mitsui Mining and Smelting) was
improper to treat the waste containing cadmium as a pollutant so that it spreaded into the environment through
the consumption of water and rice [17-18]. As a result of this pollution, 97% of the population around the
polluted area died due to the itae-itae disease [18].
Even though in Indonesia has not yet presented cases of disease caused by cadmium contamination, but the
data about the presence of cadmium pollution in the environment has been recorded in several regions of
Indonesia. For example in Brebes, Central Java (Table 1), cadmium contamination reaches the concentration of
1.83 ppm. This level had exceeds the standard threshold issue by Ministry of Environment and Forests in the
regulation number 51 of the year 2004 which stated that the specified threshold of cadmium concentration in the
water and liquid waste was ranged between 0.01 µg/l and 0.05 mg/l [19-20]. In Brebes, Central Java-Indonesia,
the pollution case is mostly caused by fertilizer and pesticides.
Table 1. Cadmium pollution in Indonesia [7]
Cd concentration
Location Sources Status
(ppm)
gold mining without
River basin, district Indragiri, Riau 0.10-0.17 polluted
permission
Musi river, Palembang, South Sumatra port and fuel waste 0.1000-0.1890 polluted
Bandung, West Java waste textile industrial 0.86-9.69 polluted
Pengalengan, West Java phosphate fertilizier 0.18-4.06 polluted
Karawang, Subang, Indramayu,
TSP fertilizier 0.62-2.89 polluted
Majalengka, West Java
Cilacap, Central Java oil mine 0.01-0.54 polluted
Brebes, Tegal, Central Java, fertilizier and pesticides 1.83 polluted
Bengawan Solo, Central Java and East industrial and household
0.08-0.13 polluted
Java waste
River Wonokromo, East Java household waste 0.001-0.003 secure
domestic waste and
Badung, Bali 0.008-0.22 polluted
agricultural
Sub-distrct North Pontianak, West
input cultivation 0.009-0.601 polluted
Kalimantan
domestic and industrial
South Sulawesi 0.005-0.015 secure
waste
Muna, Southeast Sulawesi island nickel mining <0.001 secure

The impact of cadmium contamination on human health

In humans, cadmium can cause damage to kidneys, bones, and other organs due to food consumption or
inhaling air which has been contaminated with cadmium [21]. Symptoms of kidney damage as an effect of the
excessive of cadmium are glycosuria, proteinuria, and aciduria. In addition, other effect which arises is a decline
of filtration rate in glomeruli and protein re-absorption rate in the proximal of contortus tubules [22-24].

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Cadmium is accumulated in kidney because the kidney produces metallothionein that will form cadmium-
metallothionein (Cd-MT). Cd-MT is subsequently filtered by the glomerulus, and then reabsorbed by the
proximal tubules and accumulated in the lysosome. Furthermore, Cd-MT will be reduced into Cd2+ that inhibits
the lysosome function and causes kidney damage [25-26].
Cadmium has two ways to damage bone tissue: (i) through the kidneys that play a role in the reabsorption of
secondary compounds, such as calcium. Cadmium is able to inhibit the absorption of calcium by a damage in the
receptor of vitamin D and in the intestinal epithelial cells, (ii) through bone resorption in osteoclast and
osteoblast thereby inhibiting the bone formation [15] [27-29]. The mechanism of cadmium in inhibiting calcium
absorption is via the ability of cadmium to turn off calcium position. Both cadmium and calcium have +2
valence numbers, so that cadmium can mimic the properties of calcium and then inhibits the activity of a protein
sensor in the organs, such as the kidneys and bones [30].

Bioaccumulator plant as remediation agent

Bioaacumulator plant is a plant having the ability to absorb and accumulate high concentration of
contaminant without showing phytotoxicity symptoms [31]. Remediation technique by using accumulator plants
have other advantages than other technique because: (i) there are various families of plants, such as Brassicaceae
and Rubiaceae, that have a high capability to be tolerant toward heavy metals, (ii) many plants have capability to
remodel contaminant, (iii) the growth of root organ in plant is widely, therefore it has extensive contacts on the
substance of environment contaminants [32]. For the application in phytoremediation technique, the accumulator
plant is selected in respect to the following criteria, such as having high level of tolerance in accumulating heavy
metals, having higher absorption rate of heavy metal than other plants, having high ability to translocate heavy
metal from the roots to the above parts of plants [33].
The plant has the ability to absorb heavy metals in certain concentration [34]. There are 450 species of
angiosperm plants which are able to absorb heavy metals, including cadmium [35]. Each plant has a respective
limit in absorbing heavy metals. Bioaccumulator plants for cadmium is able to absorb up to 100 mg Cd kg -1 of
dry weight biomass [36]. Regarding to the difference of plant ability in absorbing heavy metals, plants are
divided into three types: (i) as indicator, when the amount of accumulated contaminant in the upper tissues of the
plant reflects the amount of contaminants in the environment; (ii) as an excluder, when the plant accumulate
large amount contaminant at the roots; (iii) as hyperaccumulator, when the plant can accumulate large amount of
contaminants from the environment [37]. As showed in table 2, bioaccumulator plants that can be found in
Indonesia, such as Sanseviera trifasciata, are able to absorb cadmium and lead.

Table 2. Bioaccumulator plant in Indonesia [34] [38-39]

Name of plants Type of pollutant
Sonchus arvensis B. Cyanide (Cn), lead (Pb)
Ipomoea sp. Cyanide (Cn), lead (Pb)
Limnocharis flava Cyanide (Cn), lead (Pb)
Eichhornia crassipes Lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd)
Sansevieria trifasciata Lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd)
Typha latifolia Zinc (Zn)
Justice americana Copper (Cu)
Sansevieria hyacinthoides Cadmium (Cd)
Andropogon zizanioides Cadmium (Cd)
Fimbristylis eumbellaris Cadmium (Cd)

Cadmium absorption mechanism

Controlling the uptake of cadmium in the roots, storage in vacuoles, and translocate via xylem to leaves
occur through several processes, that are ion absorption by transporter proteins, translocation by protons pumps,
and immobilization by metal chelating agents, such as metallothionein. Thesee processes are known as
rhizosphere interactions [40-43].

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 The absorption process involves specific and non-specific transporters encoded by transcriptional and post
transcriptional genes. Especially for transporter of Cd, it has not yet been found any specific transporter.
However, it has been predicted that the absorption of Cd occurred using other transporter, such as ZIP (ZRT,
IRT-like proteins), HMAs (Heavy Metal ATPases), and NRAMP (natural resistance-associated macrophage
protein) [35] [42]. The process of Cd absorption passes through the competition with other cations, such as zinc
(Zn2+) thereby inhibiting Cd absorption that affects the concentration of Cd in plant tissue [44]. The Cd stored in
the vacuole is subsequently expelled through the transporter protein which is then translocated to the leaf via
xylem [35]. The translocation process is similar to the absorption process involving a number of membrane
transporter gene families, such as HMAs (Heavy Metal ATPases) and YSL (Yellow-Stripe 1-like) that play a
role in helping Cd pass through plasmalemma to enter the shoot by against the electrochemical gradient with the
help of ATP hydrolysis [45-46].

CONCLUSION

Cd contamination has occurred in some areas of Indonesia and should be addressed immediately due its
toxicity. This problem, of course, can be solved by a proper of industrial waste processing. However, since
heavy metals are non degradable in nature and when once is released, it will stay in circulation, and then
subsequently contaminates the food chain. Therefore, the application of bioaccumulator plants to remediate the
area polluted by cadmium offers a better solution for this problem. This technique is perceived as cheap,
efficient, and eco-friendly. The appropriate selection of bioaccumulator plants related to its function to clean up
Cd contamination is the key success of this technique.

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