Air pollution exerts detrimental effects on plant ecosystems and restricts agricultural productivity. Cement dust is considered to be one of the most harmful air pollutants of industrial origin and is a limiting factor for plant growth and productivity. This study aims to uncover the impacts of cement dust on photosynthetic pigments, protein content, hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) accumulation, lipid per oxidation and antioxidant enzyme activities of Arabidopsis thaliana. In this study, Arabidopsis plants were dusted with cement at a rate of 1.5 g per 1-m 2 area and measurements were undertaken at 10 days after cement dust application. Treatment with cement dust resulted insignificant reductions in chlorophyll content and total soluble protein accumulation. Neither carotenoid nor starch content of Arabidopsis plants was affected by exposure to cement dust, whereas protease activity was significantly enhanced in cement dust-treated plants. Furthermore, exposure to cement dust significantly enhanced the production of H 2 O 2 , a product of oxidative stress, in the leaves of Arabidopsis plants. Moreover, Malondialdehyde (MDA) content, a product of lipid per oxidation, significantly increased after exposure to cement dust. In response to cement dust, activities of scavenging enzymes such as Ascorbate Peroxides (APX), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Guaiacol Peroxidase (GPX) increased, whereas the activity of Catalase (CAT) activity decreased. The present results suggest that cement dust induced oxidative stress in Arabidopsis plants through the generation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), induction of lipid peroxidation and up regulation of antioxidant enzyme activities.
Cement dust is a major particulate air pollutants and can cause negative impacts on plant growth and development. The molecular bases of plant responses to cement dust are not elucidated. Therefore, a transcriptome analysis of Arabidopsis in response to cement dust was performed. In the present study, seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana were exposed to cement dust at a rate of 1.5 g per 1 m 2 area. Total RNA from control and cement-dust treated plants were used for transcriptome analysis using GeneChip Ò Arabidopsis ATH1 Genome Array. In response to cement dust application, the transcriptional profiling identified 1599 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using a two-fold cutoff. Of these DEGs, 831 were up-regulated, and 768 were downregulated. Differential expression of 15 genes from this list was validated using qRT-PCR. Gene ontology analysis using AgriGo program revealed that a large proportion of upregulated DEGs are related to response to stimulus, response to stress, response to chemical stimulus, transcription factor activity, hydrolase activity, and carboxylesterase activity. While, a large proportion of down-regulated DEGs were mainly in the following categories: biosynthetic process, biological regulation, and response to stimulus, nucleic acid binding, transcription regulator activity, transcription factor activity, organelle lumen, nuclear lumen, and nucleolus. The DEGs up-regulated in response to cement dust include a set of reactive oxygen species scavenging enzymes (e.g., ascorbate peroxidase 2, peroxidases, glutathione S-transferases), heat shock proteins, late embryogenesis abundant proteins, D 1 -pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase 1, as well as transcription factor genes of different families. This study is the first to provide a global view of the transcriptomic profiling of Arabidopsis in response to cement dust. The results will be helpful for better understanding the molecular basis for plant responses to cement dust pollution.
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