Jute (Corchorus capsularis) is a widely cultivated fibrous species with important physiological characteristics including biomass, a deep rooting system, and tolerance to metal stress. Furthermore, Corchorus species are indigenous leafy vegetables and show phytoremediation potential for different heavy metals. This species has been used for the phytoremediation of different toxic pollutants such as copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb). The current literature highlights the physiological and morphological characteristics of jute that are useful to achieve successful phytoremediation of different pollutants. The accumulation of these toxic heavy metals in agricultural regions initiates concerns regarding food safety and reductions in plant productivity and crop yield. We discuss some innovative approaches to increase jute phytoremediation using different chelating agents. There is a need to remediate soils contaminated with toxic substances, and phytoremediation is a cheap, effective, and in situ alternative, and jute can be used for this purpose.

The current study was carried out to evaluate the genotoxic aspects of the aqueous extracts of the Tribulus terrestris fruits by comet assay and cytogenetic procedures conditions on cultured human peripheral blood lymphocyte. After the treatment of the lymphocytes with four concentrations of the aqueous fruit extract of T. terrestris (10, 20, 40 and 80 mg/L) for 24 h it was noticed that, the presence of micronuclei and/or chromosomal aberration were monitored and a significant increase of comet cells at high concentration of T. terrestris extract 80 mg/L. Also, this study showed that the presence of micronuclei, chromosomal aberration as a chromosomal gap, fragmentation, stickiness and necrotic cells were appeared and increased with high concentrations of T. terrestris fruits extract (40-80 mg/L). On the other hand, no significant difference was observed with the low concentration of the extract (10-20 mg/L) as compared with control. The current study refers to the ability of the extract of T. terrestris fruits to do damage in the target DNA at the higher concentrations. Thus, it could be considered that the aqueous extracts of the T. terrestris fruits have genotoxic effect in the therapeutic protocols if it used in high doses.

The aim of the present study was to determine the unique molecular markers among, three species of the genus Anthemis and the construction of phylogenetic tree using the random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) technique. Genetic diversity was analyzed among 15 populations of three species of Anthemis (Anthemis melampodina, Anthemis, pseudocotula and Anthemis, bornmuelleri), collected from different locations at Saudi Arabia by using RAPD primers. Pairwise genetic distance was calculated based on Nei and Li coefficient. Unweighted pair group method with an average (UPGMA) was used for construction of dendrogram, based on the similarity matrix data. Results showed wide variations among A. bornmuelleri and other two species. A wide close genetic relation was observed between A. melampodina and A. pseudocotula. RAPD-PCR technique was shown to be an accurate tool, in other to ascertain plant relationships among species of genus Anthemis.