Chapters authored
Role of Phytochelatins in Redox Caused Stress in Plants and Animals
Varied environmental compartments (such as soil and water) potentially contaminated with different metals/metalloids can impact the health of both plants and animals/humans. Trace amounts of Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni and Zn are beneficial for higher plants, whereas, Cr, Cu, Co, Mn, Mo, Se, V and Zn are known as the micronutrient metal/metalloids for animals/humans. However, elevated levels of the metals/metalloids can cause severe toxic consequences in both plants and animals/humans. Common in plants and animals/humans, phytochelatins (PCs), the principal non-protein, S-rich, thiolate peptides, protect (through different mechanisms) cellular functions and metal/metalloid homeostasis by performing their chelation and/or detoxification. With the major aim of broadening the current knowledge on the subject, this chapter (a) overviews PCs’ role and modulation separately in metal/metalloid-exposed plants and animals/humans; (b) discusses major methods for determination of PCs and bioassays for enzymes involved in PC synthesis; (c) evaluates the connection of PCs with bionanoparticles; and finally (d) highlights so far unexplored aspects in the present context.
Part of the book: Abiotic and Biotic Stress in Plants
Capillary Electrophoresis in Nanotechnologies versus Nanotechnologies in Capillary Electrophoresis
Nanomaterials are attracting an interest of many researches. All this attention is due the unique physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials differing significantly from the bulk materials mainly due to their size in range of nanometers. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a powerful, well-established analytical technique that provides numerous valuable benefits over other separation methods including high-performance liquid chromatography. The connection between CE and nanotechnology can be approached by two strategies: (i) CE analysis of nanomaterials and (ii) nanomaterials for CE improvement. The first perspective focuses on uses of CE as a method for characterization employed during nanomaterial production and modification as well as for monitoring their properties and interactions with other molecules. The second viewpoint deals with applications of nanomaterials for improving CE performance, mainly by enhancing efficiency of separation using nanomaterials as a stationary or pseudo-stationary phase and by enhancing detection sensitivity and/or selectivity in both optical and electrochemical detection. Moreover, applications of nanomaterials for sample preparation before CE analysis will be mentioned. This chapter aims at highlighting the symbiosis of CE and nanotechnology as a combination of modern, progressive field with well-known and reliable analytical method.
Part of the book: Novel Nanomaterials