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Characteristics of cadmium accumulation and tolerance in Rorippa globosa (Turcz.) Thell., a species with some characteristics of cadmium hyperaccumulation

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Abstract

Characteristics of cadmium (Cd) accumulation and tolerance in Rorippa globosa (Turcz.) Thell., a species with some characteristics of cadmium hyperaccumulation were further investigated and compared with a closely related species, Rorippa islandica. The results showed that there was no phytotoxicity for R. globosa leaves or reduction in biomass when treated with 25 μg Cd g−1, although the concentration of Cd accumulated in the leaves was up to 218.9 μg Cd g−1 dry weight (DW). On the contrary, Cd toxicity was observed in R. islandica leaves by way of determining changes in fresh weight (FW), malondialdehyde (MDA) level and chlorophyll content while treated with 25 μg Cd g−1 DW. R. globosa had stronger self-protection ability than R. islandica to adapt to oxidative stress caused by Cd. Application of Cd significantly increased the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in leaves, the activity of peroxidase (POD) in roots, and the activity of catalase (CAT) in leaves and roots of R. globosa. By contrast, in R. islandica, the activity of antioxidant enzymes was inhibited or unchanged by various Cd treatments. However, R. globosa leaves had higher activity of antioxidant enzymes such as SOD and POD than that of R. islandica. The antioxidative defense systems in R. globosa might play an important role in Cd tolerance. The Cd treatments significantly induced the synthesis of phytochelatins (PCs) in the two species. Leaf PCs and Cd accumulation by R. globosa were much greater than those by R. islandica, but root PCs and Cd accumulation by R. islandica were much greater than those by R. globosa, suggesting that PCs in leaves may be a biomarker of Cd hyperaccumulation, and the synthesis of PCs may be related to an increase in the uptake of Cd ions into the cytoplasm, not the primary mechanism for Cd tolerance.

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Acknowledgments

The research was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, People’s Republic of China as an 863 project (No. 2007AA061201), and by the Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China as a grand fostering project (No. 707011), respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, 250100, Jinan, China

    Ruilian Sun

  2. Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecological Process, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 110016, Shenyang, China

    Ruilian Sun & Qixing Zhou

  3. Henan Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and HuaiHe River Water Environmental and Pollution Control Ministry of Education, Henan Normal University, 453007, Xinxiang, China

    Caixia Jin

  4. Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, 300071, Tianjin, China

    Qixing Zhou

  5. College of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Henan Normal University, 453007, Xinxiang, China

    Caixia Jin

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  1. Ruilian Sun
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Correspondence to Qixing Zhou.

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Sun, R., Jin, C. & Zhou, Q. Characteristics of cadmium accumulation and tolerance in Rorippa globosa (Turcz.) Thell., a species with some characteristics of cadmium hyperaccumulation. Plant Growth Regul 61, 67–74 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-010-9451-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-010-9451-3

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