Mercury accumulation plant Cyrtomium macrophyllum and its potential for phytoremediation of mercury polluted sites

•Cyrtomium macrophyllum was screened out to be a potential mercury accumulator plant.•Mercury accumulation and translocation abilities of Cyrtomium macrophyllum were tested by pot experiment.•Cyrtomium macrophyllum shows capability of tolerating mercury stress.•Cyrtomium macrophyllum is a promising species for the phytoremediation of mercury polluted sites.

Cyrtomium macrophyllum naturally grown in 225.73 mg kg−1 of soil mercury in mining area was found to be a potential mercury accumulator plant with the translocation factor of 2.62 and the high mercury concentration of 36.44 mg kg−1 accumulated in its aerial parts. Pot experiments indicated that Cyrtomium macrophyllum could even grow in 500 mg kg−1 of soil mercury with observed inhibition on growth but no obvious toxic effects, and showed excellent mercury accumulation and translocation abilities with both translocation and bioconcentration factors greater than 1 when exposed to 200 mg kg−1 and lower soil mercury, indicating that it could be considered as a great mercury accumulating species. Furthermore, the leaf tissue of Cyrtomium macrophyllum showed high resistance to mercury stress because of both the increased superoxide dismutase activity and the accumulation of glutathione and proline induced by mercury stress, which favorited mercury translocation from the roots to the aerial parts, revealing the possible reason for Cyrtomium macrophyllum to tolerate high concentration of soil mercury. In sum, due to its excellent mercury accumulation and translocation abilities as well as its high resistance to mercury stress, the use of Cyrtomium macrophyllum should be a promising approach to remediating mercury polluted soils.