The group of ZHOU Gongke at QIBEBT has used molecular biology, cell biology and bioinformatics and other research methods to elucidate the molecular biology of cadmium ion absorption, transport and detoxification in duckweed. The advantage of duckweed bioremediation is that: (1) new individuals are produced mainly through asexual reproduction, with fast growth rate and short cycle, breeding about 2-3 days; (2) the overall structure is simple and large part of the duckweed is composed of only the fronds and roots, which can absorb metal ions in the water, avoiding the long-distance transport of ions, thus improving the ion transport efficiency. Future work will be devoted to establish duckweed as a new bioremediation and energy plant.

China Bio news release, November 17, 2017