Abstract
Sulfonamides, as broad-spectrum antibiotics, are widely used to protect against bacterial infections in livestock production. A large number of sulfa antibiotics are discharged into soil and water system, which poses a great threat to the safety of organisms. The antibacterial mechanism of sulfonamides is to prevent folate biosynthesis by competitively inhibiting bacterial dihydropteroate synthetase (DHPS). The inhibitory effect of sulfanilamide on root growth has been reported, but the mechanism has not been determined. Here, we used high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detector (HPLC-UV) and transgenic technology to study the effect of sulfonamides on folate synthesis in plants. The results showed that the application of sulfonamide sharply reduced the content of folic acid in plants, resulting in strong inhibition of cell division in the root apical meristem. The inhibition of sulfonamide on cell division can be relieved by supplementing synthetic folic acid and folinic calcium salt hydrate. The transgenic plants expressing the bacterial antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) Sul1 or Sul2 showed obvious antibiotic resistance. Taking these results together, we suggest that sulfonamides repress cell proliferation in the root apical meristem by competitively inhibiting the biosynthesis of folic acid in plants.
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