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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.

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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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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

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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