Abstract

BackgroundCadmium (Cd) is a serious heavy metal (HM) soil pollutant. To alleviate or even eliminate HM pollution in soil, environmental-friendly methods are applied. One is that special plants are cultivated to absorb the HM in the contaminated soil. As an excellent economical plant with ornamental value and sound adaptability, V. bonariensis could be adapted to this very situation. In our study, the Cd tolerance in V. bonariensis was analyzed as well as an overall analysis of transcriptome.ResultsIn this study, the tolerance of V. bonariensis to Cd stress was investigated in four aspects: germination, development, physiological changes, and molecular alterations. The results showed that as a non-hyperaccumulator, V. bonariensis did possess the Cd tolerance and the capability to concentration Cd. Under Cd stress, all 237, 866 transcripts and 191, 370 unigenes were constructed in the transcriptome data of V. bonariensis roots. The enrichment analysis of gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway revealed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) under Cd stress were predominately related to cell structure, reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging system, chelating reaction and secondary metabolites, transpiration and photosynthesis. DEGs encoding lignin synthesis, chalcone synthase (CHS) and anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) were prominent in V. bonariensis under Cd stress. The expression patterns of 10 DEGs, validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), were in highly accordance with the RNA-Sequence (RNA-Seq) results. The novel strategies brought by our study was not only benefit for further studies on the tolerance of Cd and functional genomics in V. bonariensis, but also for the improvement molecular breeding and phytoremediation.

Highlights

  • Cadmium (Cd) is a serious heavy metal (HM) soil pollutant

  • The germination and cd accumulation in V. bonariensis under different cd concentration stress Table 1 showed that the influence of Cd2+ on the seed germination depended on its concentration

  • The results showed that chalcone synthase (CHS) and anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) genes may play an important regulated role in V. bonariensis resist the damage of Cd stress

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Cadmium (Cd) is a serious heavy metal (HM) soil pollutant. To alleviate or even eliminate HM pollution in soil, environmental-friendly methods are applied. One is that special plants are cultivated to absorb the HM in the contaminated soil. As an excellent economical plant with ornamental value and sound adaptability, V. bonariensis could be adapted to this very situation. HM pollution in soil has long jeopardized the sustenance of plants. HMs in soil are transported to the aboveground parts of plants. The excessive concentration of HMs has a severe impact on the growth, plasma membrane permeability, physiological and biochemical processes and nutritional status of plants [2]. The increased production of ROS under HM stress damages cell membranes, decomposes nucleic acids and declines photosynthesis of plants [3, 4]. Cd disrupts the growth and development of the plant by trespassing. The chelation is in response to HM stress in the plants. There are four main chelating agents in plants, including phytochelatin (PC), metallothionein (MT), organic acid and amino acid

Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call