Almost all soils has seen a steady increase in the content of heavy metals, mainly due to anthropogenic activities . The presence of elevated concentrations of metals has a number of adverse changes in the functioning of the plant cell. The presence of heavy metal ions activates fitochelatynowego detoxification system , which consists of low molecular compounds , such as cysteine, glutathione and its homologues , phytochelatins , and glutathione biosynthesis enzymes - g - glutamylcysteine ​​synthetase , glutathione synthetase , and fitochelatynowa synthetase - an enzyme responsible for the synthesis of phytochelatins . Metal ions that have migrated into the cytoplasm , are chelated by glutathione or a short-chain low molecular weight PC to form complexes , which are then transported to the vacuole . The vacuoles are formed and stored more stable complexes with high sulfur content . In recent years, more and more attention is paid to the possibility of using plants to remove or inactivate contaminants from soil and surface water - this process is called phytoremediation .