Biochemical and physiological responses of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] to nickel toxicity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Nickel (Ni) was the latest element to have its nutritional essentiality recognized for plants (Brown et al. 1987). It is a component of various enzymes, including glyoxalases (family I), hydrogenases, superoxide dismutase and urease (Chen et al. 2009). Inadequate Ni supply promotes changes in the plant metabolism, including processes related to nitrogen metabolism, such as amino acids, urea and ureides metabolisms (Rodriguez-Jimenez et al. 2016; Bai et al. 2006). Legumes that are dependent on N2 fixation (e.g., soybean) have their process impaired by Ni deficiency, because this element is an essential catalytic cofactor of [NiFe]-hydrogenase, an enzyme found in some symbiotic bacteria that recycles the H2 produced by a side reaction of nitrogenase in root nodules formed by the plant-bacteria association (Cammack 1995; Bagyinka 2014). Moreover, Ni has shown the potential to control soybean diseases, such as powdery mildew (Barcelos et al. 2018) and Asian soybean rust (Einhardt et al. 2020a; 2020b).