Toxic metal(loid) exposure in plants elicits complex metabolic and stress cascades. Ascertaining what is a primary, i.e. direct induction of stress responses, from global responses that derive from these primary changes, or from, direct physiological impairment, is a challenge. This book addresses how plants sense metal(loid)s, i.e. the ‘perception’ and ‘signaling’ that induce these primary metabolic changes in the plant's physiology when challenged with a toxic element. The ‘remediation’ in the title is somewhat misleading as it rarely features in the text, and maybe is in the title to try and broaden the appeal? Each chapter is authored by different people, based on expertise, and the text builds to cover the sensing component of the remit through covering topics such as the roles of thiol peptides and oxidative response, etc. to metal(loid) exposure. These topics tend to focus more on the mechanisms of such responses, rather than their role in signaling. Chapters on transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics approaches are also interesting, but brief and disappointing, not giving a full development to these emerging areas, particularly with respect to next generation sequencing approaches which are revolutionizing biology and will give unparalleled access to signaling pathways.

The cellular responses and consequences of metal(loid) exposure are fascinating subjects, but poorly understood. This becomes apparent through this text. This is not the fault of the authors per se, just that the literature in this subject area is fragmented and poorly studied. This text may, therefore, serve as a catalyst and certainly is a useful reference text for those interested, in this subject area.