Plant Metal and Metalloid Homeostasis

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Physiology and Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2023) | Viewed by 5565

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Botany Department, Institute of Biosciences; Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Center for Biotechnology; Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Interests: molecular biology; genetics and plant physiology; micronutrient homeostasis in model plants; characterization of new metal transporters; crops wild relatives
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Graduate Program in Biotechnology, Life Sciences Area, University of Taquari Valley - Univates, Lajeado, Brazil. Graduate Program in Plant Physiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
Interests: Fe and Zn biofortification, biofertilizers, inoculation of PGPBs, plant responses to stressful conditions

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Santa Maria, Prédio 42, Office 3309, Avenida Roraima 1000, Santa Maria 95105-900, Brazil
Interests: plant nutrition; soil fertility; fertilization; fruit quality; heavy metals; roots; sustainable orchards and vineyards
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue of the journal Plants, entitled “Plant Metal and Metalloid Homeostasis” is open for submissions. Plants’ ionome includes metals and metalloids, some of which are essential for plants growth and development, while others are trace elements which may (or may not) be harmful. Understanding how plants uptake, distribute, accumulate, and regulate the levels of such elements in each organ, tissue, cell, and organelle is a challenge, and to date, little is known about this. Metals and metalloids can also be toxic when accumulated in excess, and some plants can be tolerant. However, our understanding of tolerance is also scarce. Moreover, there are several interactions in which accumulation of one metal can affect the concentration of others, demonstrating that homeostasis of different metals and metalloids in an integrative way is key. In this Special Issue, we are interested in receiving manuscripts focused on metal/metalloid toxicity/deficiency; transport, regulation and distribution; physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses to metals/metalloids; plant biofortification strategies; interactions of metals/metalloids with each other, both in the soil and in the plant; discoveries in model and non-model species; and methods that are relevant to the research area. We will be happy to consider original articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Felipe Klein Ricachenevsky
Dr. Raul Antonio Sperotto
Dr. Gustavo Brunetto
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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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

  • metal
  • metalloid
  • transporter
  • metal homeostasis
  • ionome

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

20 pages, 8812 KiB  
Article
New Insight into the Function of Dopamine (DA) during Cd Stress in Duckweed (Lemna turionifera 5511)
by Wenqiao Wang, Yunwen Yang, Xu Ma, Yuman He, Qiuting Ren, Yandi Huang, Jing Wang, Ying Xue, Rui Yang, Yuhan Guo, Jinge Sun, Lin Yang and Zhanpeng Sun
Plants 2023, 12(10), 1996; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12101996 - 16 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1460
Abstract
Dopamine (DA), a kind of neurotransmitter in animals, has been proven to cause a positive influence on plants during abiotic stress. In the present study, the function of DA on plants under cadmium (Cd) stress was revealed. The yellowing of duckweed leaves under [...] Read more.
Dopamine (DA), a kind of neurotransmitter in animals, has been proven to cause a positive influence on plants during abiotic stress. In the present study, the function of DA on plants under cadmium (Cd) stress was revealed. The yellowing of duckweed leaves under Cd stress could be alleviated by an exogenous DA (10/20/50/100/200 μM) supplement, and 50 μM was the optimal concentration to resist Cd stress by reducing root breakage, restoring photosynthesis and chlorophyll content. In addition, 24 h DA treatment increased Cd content by 1.3 times in duckweed under Cd stress through promoting the influx of Cd2+. Furthermore, the gene expression changes study showed that photosynthesis-related genes were up-regulated by DA addition under Cd stress. Additionally, the mechanisms of DA-induced Cd detoxification and accumulation were also investigated; some critical genes, such as vacuolar iron transporter 1 (VIT1), multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) and Rubisco, were significantly up-regulated with DA addition under Cd stress. An increase in intracellular Ca2+ content and a decrease in Ca2+ efflux induced by DA under Cd stress were observed, as well as synchrony with changes in the expression of cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel 2 (CNGC2), predicting that, in plants, CNGC2 may be an upstream target for DA action and trigger the change of intracellular Ca2+ signal. Our results demonstrate that DA supplementation can improve Cd resistance by enhancing duckweed photosynthesis, changing intracellular Ca2+ signaling, and enhancing Cd detoxification and accumulation. Interestingly, we found that exposure to Cd reduced endogenous DA content, which is the result of a blocked shikimate acid pathway and decreased expression of the tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) gene. The function of DA in Cd stress offers a new insight into the application and study of DA to Cd phytoremediation in aquatic systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Metal and Metalloid Homeostasis)
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 1255 KiB  
Article
Cadmium Transport in Maize Root Segments Using a Classical Physiological Approach: Evidence of Influx Largely Exceeding Efflux in Subapical Regions
by Alberto Rivetta, Michele Pesenti, Gian Attilio Sacchi, Fabio Francesco Nocito and Maurizio Cocucci
Plants 2023, 12(5), 992; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12050992 - 21 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 875
Abstract
The bidirectional fluxes of cadmium and calcium across the plasma membrane were assessed and compared in subapical maize root segments. This homogeneous material provides a simplified system for investigating ion fluxes in whole organs. The kinetic profile of cadmium influx was characterized by [...] Read more.
The bidirectional fluxes of cadmium and calcium across the plasma membrane were assessed and compared in subapical maize root segments. This homogeneous material provides a simplified system for investigating ion fluxes in whole organs. The kinetic profile of cadmium influx was characterized by a combination of a saturable rectangular hyperbola (Km = 30.15) and a straight line (k = 0.0013 L h−1 g−1 fresh weight), indicating the presence of multiple transport systems. In contrast, the influx of calcium was described by a simple Michaelis–Menten function (Km = 26.57 µM). The addition of calcium to the medium reduced cadmium influx into the root segments, suggesting a competition between the two ions for the same transport system(s). The efflux of calcium from the root segments was found to be significantly higher than that of cadmium, which was extremely low under the experimental conditions used. This was further confirmed by comparing cadmium and calcium fluxes across the plasma membrane of inside-out vesicles purified from maize root cortical cells. The inability of the root cortical cells to extrude cadmium may have driven the evolution of metal chelators for detoxifying intracellular cadmium ions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Metal and Metalloid Homeostasis)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

44 pages, 3098 KiB  
Review
Negative Impacts of Arsenic on Plants and Mitigation Strategies
by Dwaipayan Sinha, Soumi Datta, Reema Mishra, Preeti Agarwal, Tripti Kumari, Sherif Babatunde Adeyemi, Arun Kumar Maurya, Sharmistha Ganguly, Usman Atique, Sanchita Seal, Laxmi Kumari Gupta, Shahana Chowdhury and Jen-Tsung Chen
Plants 2023, 12(9), 1815; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12091815 - 28 Apr 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2766
Abstract
Arsenic (As) is a metalloid prevalent mainly in soil and water. The presence of As above permissible levels becomes toxic and detrimental to living organisms, therefore, making it a significant global concern. Humans can absorb As through drinking polluted water and consuming As-contaminated [...] Read more.
Arsenic (As) is a metalloid prevalent mainly in soil and water. The presence of As above permissible levels becomes toxic and detrimental to living organisms, therefore, making it a significant global concern. Humans can absorb As through drinking polluted water and consuming As-contaminated food material grown in soil having As problems. Since human beings are mobile organisms, they can use clean uncontaminated water and food found through various channels or switch from an As-contaminated area to a clean area; but plants are sessile and obtain As along with essential minerals and water through roots that make them more susceptible to arsenic poisoning and consequent stress. Arsenic and phosphorus have many similarities in terms of their physical and chemical characteristics, and they commonly compete to cause physiological anomalies in biological systems that contribute to further stress. Initial indicators of arsenic’s propensity to induce toxicity in plants are a decrease in yield and a loss in plant biomass. This is accompanied by considerable physiological alterations; including instant oxidative surge; followed by essential biomolecule oxidation. These variables ultimately result in cell permeability and an electrolyte imbalance. In addition, arsenic disturbs the nucleic acids, the transcription process, and the essential enzymes engaged with the plant system’s primary metabolic pathways. To lessen As absorption by plants, a variety of mitigation strategies have been proposed which include agronomic practices, plant breeding, genetic manipulation, computer-aided modeling, biochemical techniques, and the altering of human approaches regarding consumption and pollution, and in these ways, increased awareness may be generated. These mitigation strategies will further help in ensuring good health, food security, and environmental sustainability. This article summarises the nature of the impact of arsenic on plants, the physio-biochemical mechanisms evolved to cope with As stress, and the mitigation measures that can be employed to eliminate the negative effects of As. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Metal and Metalloid Homeostasis)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop