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Agronomy
Special Issues
Heavy Metal-Induced Plant Stress: Toxicity, Tolerance Mechanisms and Homoeostasis
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Heavy Metal-Induced Plant Stress: Toxicity, Tolerance Mechanisms and Homoeostasis

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant-Crop Biology and Biochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2025 | Viewed by 1188

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cláudia Sofia Pereira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
GreenUPorto—Sustainable Agrifood Production Research Centre and Inov4Agro, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/nº, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
Interests: vacuolar sorting; vacuole biogenesis; sorting signals; endomembranes; trafficking; abiotic stress; plant specific insert
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Jorge Teixeira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
GreenUPorto—Sustainable Agrifood Production Research Centre and Inov4Agro, Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
Interests: plant physiology; plant stress; plant nitrogen metabolism; phytoremediation; plant heavy metal homeostasis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Heavy metals (HM) such as cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) are toxic to humans, animals, and plants. Additionally, their non-biodegradable nature potentiates their accumulation in the environment and subsequent entrance into food chains, as they are taken by plants. Plants, due to their sessile nature, are strongly affected by the high levels of HM in the environment. Because HM contamination is growing worldwide, leading to major reductions in arable land, it is necessary to understand the tolerance or accumulation mechanisms of plants to HM, its effects on their primary metabolism, and different measures possible to be used to mitigate those negative effects, so that actions can be put into practice to maintain crop production in the future.

This Agronomy Special Issue will welcome contributions in the abovementioned fields of interest, including HM uptake and accumulation in plant tissues, HM homeostasis, and its effects in carbon, nitrogen, and oxidative metabolisms.

Dr. Cláudia Sofia Pereira
Prof. Dr. Jorge Teixeira
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • crop production
  • heavy metal-induced stress
  • heavy metal homoeostasis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 2863 KiB  
Article
Nickel-Induced Differential Expression of Metallothioneins and Phytochelatin Synthase 1 in Arabidopsis thaliana: Organ-Specific Responses
by Ana Afonseca, Inês Mota, Gonçalo Vasques, Leonel Soares, Mafalda Flores, Manuel Azenha and Jorge Teixeira
Agronomy 2024, 14(12), 3026; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14123026 - 19 Dec 2024
Viewed by 938
Abstract
Metallothioneins (MTs) and phytochelatins (PCs) are small Cys-rich proteins with low molecular mass responsible for detoxifying heavy metals in cells. Arabidopsis thaliana expresses eight metallothionein genes and two types of PCS; however, there is still a need to acquire more knowledge regarding their [...] Read more.
Metallothioneins (MTs) and phytochelatins (PCs) are small Cys-rich proteins with low molecular mass responsible for detoxifying heavy metals in cells. Arabidopsis thaliana expresses eight metallothionein genes and two types of PCS; however, there is still a need to acquire more knowledge regarding their individual responses to some heavy metals. Thus, it was intended to study the expression of AtMT- and AtPCS1-encoding genes in response to high levels of nickel in wild-type A. thaliana. Seeds of A. thaliana were placed in MS medium supplemented with increasing concentrations of Ni—0 mg L−1, 2.5 mg L−1, 5 mg L−1, 7.5 mg L−1, and 10 mg L−1. After 21 days of exposure, the expression of the AtMTs (1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2B, and 3) and AtPCS1 was analysed through RT-qPCR in different plant organs: roots, young leaves, and mature leaves. The concentrations of photosynthetic pigments, hydrogen peroxide, and reduced glutathione were also evaluated, but no significant changes were observed. The gene expression analysis showed that the seven genes reacted differentially to the varying concentrations of Ni and in an organ-specific way. It was noted that in roots, the expression of AtMT1A, AtMT1C, and AtMT3 increased starting with the 2.5 mg L−1 treatment. At the same time, the response in the leaves fluctuated more as AtMT1B and AtMT1C increased in young leaves with concentrations higher than 7.5 and 2.5 mg L−1, respectively, with the remaining genes analysed having their expressions decreased starting with 7.5 mg L−1 of Ni. In mature leaves, AtMT1A increased, while AtMT2A, AtMT2B, and AtPCS1 decreased with Ni concentrations starting from 7.5 mg L−1. These results strongly suggest that the increase in the expression of AtMT1B, AtMT1C, and AtMT3 in the roots significantly reduced Ni toxicity, contributing to its local accumulation and buffering its translocation to the shoots. The overall reduction in the expression of MTs and PCS1 in leaves may be linked to the active participation of MT1A in mature leaves, while young leaves depended on the increased production of MT1B and MT1C to deal with the high amount of Ni present therein. These results contribute further knowledge to the understanding of the defence mechanisms of plants against high levels of Ni regarding the participation of MTs and PCS1. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Heavy Metal-Induced Plant Stress: Toxicity, Tolerance Mechanisms and Homoeostasis)
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