Composition, speciation and distribution of iron minerals in Imperata cylindrica

6 pages, 3 figures.-- Research article.A comparative study of the roots, rhizomes and leaves of an iron hyperaccumulator plant, Imperata cylindrica, isolated from the banks of an extreme acidic environment, using complementary techniques: Mösbauer spectroscopy (MS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled to energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDAX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), has shown that two main biominerals, jarosite and ferrihydrate-ferritin, accumulate in the different tissues. Jarosite accumulates mainly in roots and rhizomes, while ferritin has been detected in all the structures. A model of iron management in I. cylindrica is presented.This work was supported by grants BOS2002-02148 from the CICYT and institutional grants to the Centro de Biología Molecular and the Centro de Astrobiología.Peer reviewe