Abstract
Since the industrial revolution, the production, and consequently the emission of metals, has increased exponentially, overwhelming the natural cycles of metals in many ecosystems. Metals display a diverse array of physico-chemical properties such as essential versus non-essential and redox-active versus non-redox-active. In general, all metals can lead to toxicity and oxidative stress when taken up in excessive amounts, imposing a serious threat to the environment and human health. In order to cope with different kinds of metals, plants possess defense strategies in which glutathione (GSH; γ-glu-cys-gly) plays a central role as chelating agent, antioxidant and signaling component. Therefore, this review highlights the role of GSH in: (1) metal homeostasis; (2) antioxidative defense; and (3) signal transduction under metal stress. The diverse functions of GSH originate from the sulfhydryl group in cysteine, enabling GSH to chelate metals and participate in redox cycling.
Highlights
Metals are natural components of the earth’s crust; low background concentrations can be detected in soils, sediments, waters and even in organisms
Support was found in metal-hyperaccumulating plants that don’t seem to rely on PCs, but overexpress several antioxidantrelated genes and have an enhanced synthesis of GSH to counter the risk of oxidative stress related to high metal uptake [88]
In Arabidopsis it is known that mitochondria play a central role in the cellular carbon and nitrogen metabolism
Summary
Metals are natural components of the earth’s crust; low background concentrations can be detected in soils, sediments, waters and even in organisms. The main environmental threats are associated with these non-essential elements because plants, as primary producers, form an important entry pathway for potentially toxic substances into the food chain [1,7] Regardless of this knowledge, metal emissions are still continuing, in less developed countries [8,9,10]. The cysteine residue on GSH renders it an important antioxidant that, in addition to its primary antioxidant capacities, acts as a substrate for the regeneration of other essential antioxidants [13,15,16] In this way, GSH performs in both metal homeostasis and the antioxidative defense, which influence the levels of free reduced GSH and its cellular redox state [i.e., oxidized glutathione disulfide (GSSG) versus reduced GSH].
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