Phytoremediation uses plants to remove pollutants including heavy metals from the environment. The roots of the plant channel pollutants residing in soil or water in the environment to above-ground plant tissues for storage. Eventually

these pollutant-containing plant parts can be harvested and properly disposed. Plants thrive by photosynthesis making solar-driven in situ localized phytoremediation a very cost-effective and environmentally-friendly method to rid contaminants. Heavy metals are the undesirable products from industries such as mining and manufacturing and they are toxic to both man and animals. It has been reported that transgenic plants can be used to detoxify heavy metals like mercury

cadmium

arsenate

and selenate from the soil. However

few leadbinding proteins have been isolated from plants. Acyl-CoA-binding proteins (ACBPs) have been demonstrated to bind lead in vitro and in vivo and the potential in using ACBPs for the phytoremediation of lead in transformed plants will be discussed.