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Sulphur potentiates selenium to alleviate arsenic-induced stress by modulating oxidative stress, accumulation and thiol-ascorbate metabolism in Brassica juncea L.

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 27, pages 11697–11713 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

The present study was designed to see the influence of selenium (Se) and sulphur (S) in the alleviation of arsenic (As)-induced stress in Brassica juncea plant. Se-induced alterations in physiological and biochemical responses due to deficient S (DS), normal S (NS) and additional S (AS) conditions were evaluated in 14-day-old seedlings of B. juncea variety Varuna. During the last 7 days of the 14-day-old seedlings, supplementation with arsenite (AsIII, 300 μM) alone and its combination with selenite (SeIV, 50 μM) along with different S treatments was done which are as follows: (i) control; (ii) As; (iii) As+Se+DS; (iv) As+Se + NS; (v) As+Se + AS. Experimental results showed that the application of AS in spite of NS supplied with Se influenced plant growth, oxidative stress and thiol-ascorbate-related parameters more prominently under As stress. The plants with As+Se+AS treatment exhibited lower ROS (superoxide and hydrogen peroxide ion), malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation and lipoxygenase activity with increased activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and ascorbate peroxidase compared with As+Se+NS condition. These plants also exhibited an increase in cysteine, non-protein thiols and phytochelatins, along with reduced, oxidised and redox content of glutathione and ascorbate. Furthermore, the application of S along with Se increased the activities of glutathione reductase, glutathione S-transferase, glutathione peroxidase, monodehydroascorbate and dehydroascorbate to minimise As stress. However, we observed that these responses were reversed under As+Se+DS condition and induced oxidative stress, which was almost similar to As only treatment. It indicated that AS nutrition potentiated Se to alleviate As-inhibited plant growth by modulating antioxidants including thiol-ascorbate-based mechanism and reducing As accumulation in B. juncea plants.

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Acknowledgements

SS (F./PDFSS-2015-17-UTT-12296) thanks the University Grants Commission (UGC), while EK (DBT/JRF/14/AL/207) and AP (DBT/JRF/14/AL/250) thanks the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India, received fellowship. MP and ZM thanks the UGC and Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India, received a fellowship.

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  1. Ecotoxicogenomics Lab, Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India

    Seema Sahay, Ehasanullah Khan, Afsana Praveen, Medha Panthri, Zainab Mirza & Meetu Gupta

  2. Department of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Beadle Center, Lincoln, NE, 68503, USA

    Seema Sahay

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  1. Seema Sahay
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  2. Ehasanullah Khan
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MG planned, drafted and checked the manuscript. SS designed, wrote and executed the manuscript. SS, EK, AP, MP and ZM contributed in performing the experiment, analysis and interpretation of data.

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Correspondence to Meetu Gupta.

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Supplementary Fig S1
figure 9

Phenotypic growth changes of agropeat grown 14-day-old seedlings of B. juncea (cv. Varuna) exposed in the last 7 days to different concentrations of arsenite (AsIII) and selenite (SeIV) treatments. (PNG 730 kb)

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Sahay, S., Khan, E., Praveen, A. et al. Sulphur potentiates selenium to alleviate arsenic-induced stress by modulating oxidative stress, accumulation and thiol-ascorbate metabolism in Brassica juncea L.. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 11697–11713 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07520-w

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Keywords

  • Arsenic
  • Selenium
  • Sulphur
  • Ascorbate-glutathione cycle
  • Accumulation
  • B. juncea