Abstract
Aims
Zinc (Zn) is a toxic element for plant at high concentrations. As a biologically active gaseous molecule, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) regulates plant growth and development. The aim of this study is to reveal the ameliorative effects of H2S on the physiological and molecular responses of a hyperaccumulator to Zn toxicity.
Methods
Growth analysis, biochemical and zymological methods, fluorescent microscopic imaging, western-blot and quantitative real-time PCR analysis were performed to investigate the roles of NaHS (a donor of H2S) on the cadmium (Cd)/Zn hyperaccumulator, Solanum nigrum L.
Results
H2S ameliorated excess Zn-induced growth inhibition, especially in roots. H2S decreased free cytosolic Zn2+ content in roots which was correlated well with the down-regulation of Zn uptake and homeostasis related genes expression. Besides, H2S further enhanced the expression of the metallothioneins (MTs). Moreover, Zn-induced oxidative stress was also alleviated by H2S.
Conclusions
The alleviation of H2S on excess Zn toxicity in S. nigrum is presumably attributed to: (1) the decrease in Zn accumulation via down-regulation of Zn uptake and homeostasis related genes expression; (2) the enhancement in the expression of MTs which chelate excess Zn; (3) the change in the genes expression of antioxidative enzymes, leading to H2O2 reduction.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Dr. Shao-Fa Zhang from Institute of Medical Plant Development in China for providing Solanum nigrum seeds kindly. This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (31570586, 31300505, 31260057 and 30930076), Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Science (Y412201449) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2012 M521278).
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The authors declare that they have no conflict interest in this work.
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Responsible Editor: Henk Schat.
Xiang Liu, Juan Chen and Guang-Hui Wang contributed equally to this work.
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Supplementary Methods: Amplification of ZRT and MTP partial cDNAs.
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Liu, X., Chen, J., Wang, GH. et al. Hydrogen sulfide alleviates zinc toxicity by reducing zinc uptake and regulating genes expression of antioxidative enzymes and metallothioneins in roots of the cadmium/zinc hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L.. Plant Soil 400, 177–192 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2719-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2719-7