Mamta Bhat*, Priya Darshni and Anamika Srivastava
Heavy metals are regarded as one of the most significant environmental contaminants. They can easily get entered in food chain and eventually exert toxic effects through contaminated soils, crops and water, thereby becoming a serious global issue of concern today. There are numerous ways to remove them from the environment, but majority of which are expensive and difficult to employ, effectively. In order to eliminate inert metals and metal contaminants from contaminated air, soil and water, bioremediation is regarded as the most efficient and costeffective technical approach available. However, the potential of lichens for bioremediation of heavy metals has also been recognized lately as they can accumulate heavy metals by physico-chemical and biological mechanisms including extracellular binding. This is in consequence of a series of morphological and physiological properties exhibited by their thallus such as lack of any protective, conductive and assimilatory tissues such as epidermis, xylem, phloem and roots. The present review is therefore, attempted to discuss a wide range of investigations carried out on uptake of heavy metals by lichens and their effects as well as evaluation of their potential in future bioremediation studies.
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