Gold for Plants: Turgor

Gold (= Aurum) (Au)

For plants – turgor.

Plants can absorb gold present in soluble forms, and when it enters the vascular system of the plant roots, it is easily transported to the aerial part and, together with sodium, potassium, and chlorine, is responsible for maintaining the turgor of plant cells. There is evidence that gold in nano-quantities is essential for the plant to maintain the tension of plant cell membranes. However, in a reducing environment, gold settles on the surface of cells, thereby inhibiting membrane permeability.

It has been established that the concentration of gold in fruits and vegetables is 0.01–0.4 µg/kg of wet weight. For other vascular plants, values of 1–40 µg/kg of dry weight are reported. In barley and flax, gold is found only in the roots at a concentration of 14–22 µg/kg of dry weight.

Gold in plants was first discovered in plant ash by the French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet. Although gold in plants is deposited in the form of nanoparticles – granules with diameters in millionths of a millimeter, some scientists claim that it is quite possible to increase the gold content in plant tissues to 20%.

The ability to accumulate in plants (particularly in plants of the legume family, namely – alfalfa Medicago sativa L., Fabaceae) is the basis for the technology of searching for gold in soils.

The presence of a certain amount of gold in plant ash can be an exploratory indicator for geologists (indicator plants).

In Asia Minor, the indicator plant for the presence of gold in soils is field horsetail Equisetum arvense L., Equisetaceae, while in Australia, it is species of honeysuckle Lonicera L., Caprifoliaceae. In the cones of spruce and pine growing in soils with a gold content of 0.00002%, its concentration increases 50 times.

The plants that are hyper-accumulators of gold are:
• red fescue Festuca rubra L., Poaceae (especially – seeds, content – 95.05 mg per 1 ton);
• common corn Zea mays L., Poaceae: from 1 ton of corn waste ash, up to 60 g of gold can be obtained;
• silky phacelia Phacelia sericea (Graham) A. Gray, Hydrophyllaceae.

Cyanogenic plants and some broadleaf trees can accumulate gold in amounts exceeding 10 mg/kg of dry weight.

In brown and red algae growing on gold-bearing fine-grained clayey sands, there is 6–7 times more gold than in algae growing on non-gold-bearing fine-grained clayey sands. Because of this, marine algae can be used for mapping areas prospective for placer gold. This method is valuable because collecting algae from the bottom is not particularly labor-intensive.

Interestingly, gold concentrations in different areas of the World Ocean are far from uniform. While on average, 1 ton of seawater contains 0.02 mg of gold, in the Caribbean Sea, its content reaches 15–18 mg.

Currently, the possibility of using Bacillus cereus bacteria as an indicator of gold-bearing land is being studied. In soil rich in gold sand, the number of these bacteria significantly increases, while the level of spore formation noticeably decreases compared to “poor” areas.

Some plant species are relatively resistant to excessively high gold content in their tissues. The toxic effect of gold leads to the death and wilting of leaves due to loss of turgor.

Usually, gold in soluble form is toxic to microorganisms and animals. A slight impurity of gold in water, undetectable by sensors, causes a noticeable dilation of blood vessels in frogs.

Medicinal plants containing gold:
• gray mustard Erysimum canescens Roth., Brassicaceae (herb);
• alfalfa Medicago sativa L., Fabaceae (herb);
• species of wormwood Artemisia L., Asteraceae (herb);
• intoxicating lagurus Lagochilus inebrians Bunge, Lamiaceae (herb);
• field horsetail Equisetum arvense L., Equisetaceae (herb);
• species of oak Quercus L., Fagaceae (bark);
• silver birch Betula pendula Roth, Betulaceae (buds, leaves);
• common corn Zea mays L., Poaceae (silks);
• species of honeysuckle Lonicera L., Caprifoliaceae (fruits).

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