Traditionally, cultivated Helianthus annuus (Sunflower) is grown for food and oil production. However, sunflower is now being employed in phytoremediation – the process of using plants to extract metals and toxins from soil. Sunflower was most notably used after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (1986) to remove cesium and strontium (radioactive elements) from the soil and ponds surrounding the disaster site.  Seeing the success of the sunflowers in Chernobyl, this same technique was used in Fukushima, Japan after the recent nuclear meltdown.  Unfortunately, the results of the Fukushima phytoremediation project were deemed a failure.  This failure highlights the importance of genotype specific traits (such as cesium and strontium uptake) as well as genotype specific environmental interactions that may have been overlooked in these phytoremediation projects.  Genetic differences between the sunflower genotypes used in the Ukraine and Japan could account for the success and failure of phytoremediation projects in these countries.

--Josh Vandenbrink