Nickel hyperaccumulation in Thlaspi goesingense: A scientific travelogue

During the past 6 years, my research group has been trying to unravel the m olecular genetic basis of nickel hyperaccumulation in Thlaspi. Our long-ter m goal is to use the genes we identify to genetically engineer plants ideal ly suited for phytoremediation (Salt et al., 1998). This investigation has taken us on a journey with many twists, turns, dead ends, and through many types of terrains in the plant physiology landscape. In this short essay, I would like to retrace for you this journey, providing a glimpse of what we feel is now appearing as the essential components of how certain plants hy peraccumulate Ni.