Journal Article

Physiological and molecular response and tolerance of Macleaya cordata to lead toxicity

Hu, Linfeng, Wang, Ting, Sun, Xijing, Mu, Zhiying, Zhang, Hongxiao, Du, Xinlong

2023

Overview

Background Macleaya cordata is a traditional medicinal herb, and it has high tolerance and accumulation ability to heavy metals, which make it a good candidate species for studying phytoremediation. The objectives of this study were to investigate response and tolerance of M. cordata to lead (Pb) toxicity based on comparative analysis of transcriptome and proteome. Results In this study, the seedlings of M. cordata cultured in Hoagland solution were treated with 100 µmol·L − 1 Pb for 1 day (Pb 1d) or 7 days (Pb 7d), subsequently leaves of M. cordata were taken for the determination of Pb accumulation and hydrogen peroxide production (H 2 O 2 ), meanwhile a total number of 223 significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 296 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were screened between control and Pb treatments. The results showed leaves of M. cordata had a special mechanism to maintain Pb at an appropriate level. Firstly, some DEGs were iron (Fe) deficiency-induced transporters, for example, genes of vacuolar iron transporter and three ABC transporter I family numbers were upregulated by Pb, which can maintain Fe homeostasis in cytoplasm or chloroplast. In addition, five genes of calcium (Ca 2+ ) binding proteins were downregulated in Pb 1d, which may regulate cytoplasmic Ca 2+ concentration and H 2 O 2 signaling pathway. On the other hand, the cysteine synthase upregulated, glutathione S-transferase downregulated and glutathione reductase downregulated in Pb 7d can cause reduced glutathione accumulation and decrease Pb detoxification in leaves. Furthermore, DEPs of eight chlorophyll a/b binding proteins, five ATPases and eight ribosomal proteins can play a pivotal role on chloroplast turnover and ATP metabolism. Conclusions Our results suggest that the proteins involved in Fe homeostasis and chloroplast turnover in mesophyll cells may play key roles in tolerance of M. cordata to Pb. This study offers some novel insights into Pb tolerance mechanism of plants, and the potential valuable for environmental remediation of this important medicinal plant.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: ABC transporter / Accumulation / Adenosine Triphosphatases / Animal Genetics and Genomics / ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Binding / Bioaccumulation / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Calcium ions / Calcium signalling / Candidate species / Chlorophyll / Chlorophyll A / Chloroplast metabolism / Chloroplasts / Comparative analysis / Cysteine synthase / Cytoplasm / Detoxification / Down-regulation / Environmental cleanup / Enzymes / Fe deficiency / Genes / Genetic aspects / Genomics / Glutathione / Glutathione reductase / Glutathione transferase / Hardiness / Heavy metals / Herbal medicine / Homeostasis / Hydrogen Peroxide / Iron / Iron deficiency / Lead / Lead - toxicity / Leaves / Life Sciences / Macleaya cordata / Medicinal plants / Mesophyll / Metabolism / Microarrays / Microbial Genetics and Genomics / MicroRNAs / Nutrient deficiency / Oxidative stress / Pb tolerance / Physiological aspects / Phytoremediation / Plant Genetics and Genomics / Plants / Poppies / Proteins / Proteome / Proteomes / Proteomics / Reductases / Ribosomal proteins / Seedlings / Signal transduction / Soil contamination / Toxicity / Transcription factors / Transcriptome