Halophyte is a distinctive group of plants that can survive, even well flourish, at a concentration of Na + and Cl − ions along with heavy metals that would be lethal to most of the agricultural crop species. These capabilities make certain halophytes good contenders for phytoremediation through phytoextraction or phytostabilization of the salt and heavy metals (HMs) in polluted soils. Thus, the present study elucidates the phytoextraction capacity of three halophytes (Suaeda monoica, Tamarix indica and Cressa critica) growing in saline soil (EC 112 ds m −1), with higher level of HMs rather than a cultivated soil. The accumulation of ions in above-ground tissue was determined in the all three studied plants, considering the fact that maintaining a stable cytosolic Na + /K + ratio has become a crucial salinity tolerance mechanism. The higher salinity of soil resulted in high level of Na + ions in leaves, increased synthesis of osmolyte components and robust antioxidant activities to combat the oxidative stress. As whole, changes in cellular metabolites were determined by using FT-IR spectroscopy, evident as differential FT-IR profiles in both leaves and stem specific to these metabolites. The considerable amounts of HMs accumulation including Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cr, and Cd with highest being Fe in above-ground tissue of all three studied halophytes were obtained. These preliminary findings represent S. monoica, T. indica and C. cretica as potent phytoremediation plant using phytosequestration to accumulate HMs. The present study project a light on the use of these three plants in reclamation of degraded saline soils.
Background:
Plant in vitro culture systems serve as a useful tool to study the regulatory
routes which are related to plant growth and survival under altered environmental conditions.
Methods:
Callus culture of Suaeda monoica and Suaeda nudiflora were established for studying the
salt tolerance mechanism at the cellular level. Calli of both the species were induced from seedling’s
epicotyls on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with a different combination of auxin
and cytokinins. A sequential stress treatment was given to the callus of both the species. The growth
rate of callus, osmolytes and antioxidant activities was investigated after 28 days. A control callus was
maintained in each experiment without any salt in the growth medium.
Results:
Efficient callus regeneration was obtained by exposing the callus tissue to MS medium supplemented
with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D, 1.0 mg/l), benzylaminopurine (BAP, 0.5 mg/l)
and 2,4-D (0.5 mg/l), kinetin (Kn, 0.25 mg/l) for S. monoica and S. nudiflora, respectively. A substantial
increase was observed in proline content and a strong positive correlation was found between the
total phenolic content and antioxidant activity under increasing salt concentrations.
Conclusion:
This is the first report on S. monoica callus regeneration. The specific cell lines which
were generated through callus culture under sequential saline conditions provide a promising foundation
for studying salinity induced expression of enzymes. Further comparison of transcriptomic profiles
of control and salt-treated callus cultures can serve as a promising system for the detection of genes responsible
for the change in expression under salt stress.
Biofuels are gaining importance due to high crude oil prices, high energy demands, and global warming issues. According to the world energy council, the biofuel production will be tripled by 2030, with Brazil and the United States contributing to 80% of the total biofuel production. The use of first generation biofuels is connected with food insecurity and increase in food prices, while second generation biofuels used raw cellulosic mass from nonfood crops. The plant-based fuels are considered in renewable sources with easy growing practices and have lesser carbon emission as compared to fossil fuels. This
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