Nickel Hyperaccumulating Plants and Alyssum bertolonii: Model Systems for Studying Biogeochemical Interactions in Serpentine Soils

Alyssum bertolonii is one of the ten European species of Alyssum that hyperaccumulate nickel, and it was the first plant species reported to do so. The species has been suggested to be a useful indicator plant in prospecting for nickel, and the historically well-known connection between lithology and A. bertolonii was already recorded in 1583 by Cesalpino. In the last 20 years, this species has been the subject of intensive physiological, genetic, and botanical researches aimed at exploring the basis of its metal accumulation and tolerance and its life history and the genetic consequences of its restricted distribution being confined to heavy-metal-rich serpentine (ultramafic) substrates. In the perspective of the present book, A. bertolonii could represent an excellent model and a particularly valuable resource for investigating the biogeochemical interactions in serpentine soils from the genetic/physiological level.