MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF PLANT TOLERANCE TO HEAVY METALS

Abstract:: The emerging field of hydrogen biology has to date mainly been applied in medicine. However, hydrogen biology can also enable positive outcomes in agriculture. Agriculture faces significant challenges resulting from a growing population, climate change, natural disasters, environment pollution, and food safety issues. In fact, hydrogen agriculture is a practical application of hydrogen biology, which may assist in addressing many of these challenges. It has been demonstrated that hydrogen gas (H2) may enhance plant tolerance towards abiotic and biotic stresses, regulate plant growth and development, increase nutritional values, prolong the shelf life, and decrease the nitrite accumulation during the storage of vegetables, as well as increase the resilience of livestock to pathogens. Our field trials show that H2 may have a promising potential to increase yield and improve the quality of agricultural products. This review aims to elucidate mechanisms for a novel agricultural application of H2 in China. Future development of hydrogen agriculture is proposed as well. Obviously, hydrogen agriculture belongs to low carbon economy, and has great potential to provide “safe, tasty, healthy, and highyield” agricultural products so that it may improve the sustainability of agriculture.

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Plant Morphological, Physiological and Anatomical Adaption to Flooding Stress and the Underlying Molecular Mechanisms

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22031088 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 1088

Author(s):

Weitao Jia ◽

Maohua Ma ◽

Jilong Chen ◽

Shengjun Wu

Keyword(s):

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Sequence Similarity ◽

Survival Strategies ◽

Ethylene Response Factor ◽

Flooding Tolerance ◽

Plant Tolerance ◽

Flooding Stress ◽

Crop Varieties ◽

The Future ◽

Plant Acclimation

Globally, flooding is a major threat causing substantial yield decline of cereal crops, and is expected to be even more serious in many parts of the world due to climatic anomaly in the future. Understanding the mechanisms of plants coping with unanticipated flooding will be crucial for developing new flooding-tolerance crop varieties. Here we describe survival strategies of plants adaptation to flooding stress at the morphological, physiological and anatomical scale systemically, such as the formation of adventitious roots (ARs), aerenchyma and radial O2 loss (ROL) barriers. Then molecular mechanisms underlying the adaptive strategies are summarized, and more than thirty identified functional genes or proteins associated with flooding-tolerance are searched out and expounded. Moreover, we elaborated the regulatory roles of phytohormones in plant against flooding stress, especially ethylene and its relevant transcription factors from the group VII Ethylene Response Factor (ERF-VII) family. ERF-VIIs of main crops and several reported ERF-VIIs involving plant tolerance to flooding stress were collected and analyzed according to sequence similarity, which can provide references for screening flooding-tolerant genes more precisely. Finally, the potential research directions in the future were summarized and discussed. Through this review, we aim to provide references for the studies of plant acclimation to flooding stress and breeding new flooding-resistant crops in the future.

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Molecular mechanisms of resistance to heavy metals in the protistEuglena gracilis

Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part A ◽

10.1080/10934520701480326 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 42 (10) ◽

pp. 1365-1378 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

José S. RodrÍguez-Zavala ◽

Jorge D. GarcÍa-GarcÍa ◽

Marco A. Ortiz-Cruz ◽

Rafael Moreno-Sánchez

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Mechanisms Of Resistance

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Advances in 5-Aminolevulinic Acid Priming to Enhance Plant Tolerance to Abiotic Stress

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms23020702 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 702

Author(s):

Shuya Tan ◽

Jie Cao ◽

Xinli Xia ◽

Zhonghai Li

Keyword(s):

Abiotic Stresses ◽

Nitrogen Assimilation ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Aminolevulinic Acid ◽

Adaptive Strategy ◽

Forward Genetics ◽

Plant Tolerance ◽

Biotic And Abiotic Stresses ◽

Defense Priming ◽

Made In

Priming is an adaptive strategy that improves plant defenses against biotic and abiotic stresses. Stimuli from chemicals, abiotic cues, and pathogens can trigger the establishment of priming state. Priming with 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), a potential plant growth regulator, can enhance plant tolerance to the subsequent abiotic stresses, including salinity, drought, heat, cold, and UV-B. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the remarkable effects of ALA priming on plant physiology remain to be elucidated. Here, we summarize recent progress made in the stress tolerance conferred by ALA priming in plants and provide the underlying molecular and physiology mechanisms of this phenomenon. Priming with ALA results in changes at the physiological, transcriptional, metabolic, and epigenetic levels, and enhances photosynthesis and antioxidant capacity, as well as nitrogen assimilation, which in turn increases the resistance of abiotic stresses. However, the signaling pathway of ALA, including receptors as well as key components, is currently unknown, which hinders the deeper understanding of the defense priming caused by ALA. In the future, there is an urgent need to reveal the molecular mechanisms by which ALA regulates plant development and enhances plant defense with the help of forward genetics, multi-omics technologies, as well as genome editing technology.

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Molecular Mechanisms of Proline-Mediated Tolerance to Toxic Heavy Metals in Transgenic Microalgae

The Plant Cell ◽

10.1105/tpc.004853 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 14 (11) ◽

pp. 2837-2847 ◽

Cited By ~ 302

Author(s):

Surasak Siripornadulsil ◽

Samuel Traina ◽

Desh Pal S. Verma ◽

Richard T. Sayre

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Toxic Heavy Metals

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Avian Stress-Related Transcriptome and Selenotranscriptome: Role during Exposure to Heavy Metals and Heat Stress

Antioxidants ◽

10.3390/antiox8070216 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (7) ◽

pp. 216 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Isidoros Seremelis ◽

Georgios P. Danezis ◽

Athanasios C. Pappas ◽

Evangelos Zoidis ◽

Kostas Fegeros

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Heat Stress ◽

Antioxidant Status ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Mrna Levels ◽

Stress Increase ◽

The Past ◽

Antioxidant Proteins ◽

Inflammatory Proteins ◽

Molecular Effects

Selenium, through incorporation into selenoproteins, is one of the key elements of the antioxidant system. Over the past few years there has been increased interest in exploring those molecular mechanisms in chicken, responsible for the development of this protection system. In more detail, Cd/Pb poisoning and heat stress increase oxidation, mRNA levels of inflammatory proteins, and apoptotic proteins. Selenium seems to enhance the antioxidant status and alleviates these effects via upregulation of antioxidant proteins and other molecular effects. In this review, we analyze avian transcriptome key elements with particular emphasis on interactions with heavy metals and on relation to heat stress.

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Plant Tolerance and Fatty Acid Profile in Responses to Heavy Metals

Abiotic Stress Responses in Plants ◽

10.1007/978-1-4614-0634-1_20 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 369-386 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Asiya Hameed ◽

Tabasum N. Qadri ◽

Mahmooduzzafar ◽

T. O. Siddiqi

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Fatty Acid ◽

Fatty Acid Profile ◽

Plant Tolerance

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Genome-wide association study uncovers new genetic loci and candidate genes underlying seed chilling-germination in maize

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.11707 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. e11707

Author(s):

Yinchao Zhang ◽

Peng Liu ◽

Chen Wang ◽

Na Zhang ◽

Yuxiao Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Abiotic Stress ◽

Seed Germination ◽

Association Study ◽

Candidate Genes ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Genome Wide Association Study ◽

Chilling Stress ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Plant Tolerance ◽

Multiple Traits

As one of the major crops, maize (Zea mays L.) is mainly distributed in tropical and temperate regions. However, with the changes of the environments, chilling stress has become a significantly abiotic stress affecting seed germination and thus the reproductive and biomass accumulation of maize. Herein, we investigated five seed germination-related phenotypes among 300 inbred lines under low-temperature condition (10 °C). By combining 43,943 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), a total of 15 significant (P < 2.03 × 10-6) SNPs were identified to correlate with seed germination under cold stress based on the FarmCPU model in GWAS, among which three loci were repeatedly associated with multiple traits. Ten gene models were closely linked to these three variations, among which Zm00001d010454, Zm00001d010458, Zm00001d010459, and Zm00001d050021 were further verified by candidate gene association study and expression pattern analysis. Importantly, these candidate genes were previously reported to involve plant tolerance to chilling stress and other abiotic stress. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying chilling germination in maize.

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Melatonin Modulates Plant Tolerance to Heavy Metal Stress: Morphological Responses to Molecular Mechanisms

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms222111445 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (21) ◽

pp. 11445

Author(s):

Md. Najmol Hoque ◽

Md. Tahjib-Ul-Arif ◽

Afsana Hannan ◽

Naima Sultana ◽

Shirin Akhter ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metal ◽

Plant Growth ◽

Metal Toxicity ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Heavy Metal Stress ◽

Heavy Metal Toxicity ◽

Metal Stress ◽

Plant Tolerance ◽

Molecular Physiology ◽

Ionic Imbalance

Heavy metal toxicity is one of the most devastating abiotic stresses. Heavy metals cause serious damage to plant growth and productivity, which is a major problem for sustainable agriculture. It adversely affects plant molecular physiology and biochemistry by generating osmotic stress, ionic imbalance, oxidative stress, membrane disorganization, cellular toxicity, and metabolic homeostasis. To improve and stimulate plant tolerance to heavy metal stress, the application of biostimulants can be an effective approach without threatening the ecosystem. Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine), a biostimulator, plant growth regulator, and antioxidant, promotes plant tolerance to heavy metal stress by improving redox and nutrient homeostasis, osmotic balance, and primary and secondary metabolism. It is important to perceive the complete and detailed regulatory mechanisms of exogenous and endogenous melatonin-mediated heavy metal-toxicity mitigation in plants to identify potential research gaps that should be addressed in the future. This review provides a novel insight to understand the multifunctional role of melatonin in reducing heavy metal stress and the underlying molecular mechanisms.

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