A heavy metal transporter gene ZmHMA3a promises safe agricultural production on cadmium-polluted arable land

In China,19%of agricultural soils contain harmful heavy metal pollutants at levels exceeding environmentally recommended standards,whilst around 3 million hectares of arable land are too polluted to grow crops on(Zhao et al.,2015;Hu et al.,2016).Among the deleterious heavy metals,cadmium(Cd)is the most bioavailable toxic metallic pollutant and is rapidly transferable through the food chain(Wang et al.,2019).Concerning the current dilemma of the enhanced food demands of a rising population and decreasing availability of arable land,it is promising to cultivate field crops that produce enough safe foods for human consumption and simultaneously remove the pollutants from contaminated arable lands.