Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi: Harnessing Symbiotic Potential for Alleviation of Cadmium Toxicity in Plants

Cadmium (Cd) is a non-essential, highly toxic strong metal that can cause significant damage to plants and the environment. Massive and hazardous build-up of on-field-soils and crop-ingesting also endanger food security and environmental sustainability. This chapter brings attention to the critical role of Cd toxicity on plant growth, physiological, and metabolic disorders, including oxidative stress, photosynthetic impairment, and nutrient uptake inhibition. Moreover, such a link between plant and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) as a symbiotic relationship could also be the key to reducing Cd toxicity in plants. The AMF helps uptake of nutrients, change rhizosphere microbial composition, and bind heavy metals, all of which assist in the process of phytoremediation while suppressing the toxicity of Cd. The chapter also explains the mechanisms of Cd uptake, translocation, and tolerance which are mediated by metal transporters in plants. Thus, this chapter conceptualizes the Cd toxicity and the biotechnological maneuvering of AMF symbiosis toward heavy metal remediation and agriculture as a friendly yet effective method.