Chromium stress in plants

Abstract

The article presents an overview of the mechanism of chromium stress in plants. Chromium is known to be a toxic metal that can cause severe damage to plants and animals. Chromium-induced oxidative stress involves induction of lipid peroxidation in plants that causes severe damage to cell membranes. Oxidative stress induced by chromium initiates the degradation of photosynthetic pigments causing decline in growth. High chromium concentration can disturb the chloroplast ultrastructure thereby disturbing the photosynthetic process. Like copper and iron, chromium is also a redox metal and its redox behaviour exceeds that of other metals like Co, Fe, Zn, Ni, etc. The redox behaviour can thus be attributed to the direct involvement of chromium in inducing oxidative stress in plants. Chromium can affect antioxidant metabolism in plants. Antioxidant enzymes like SOD, CAT, POX and GR are found to be susceptible to chromium resulting in a decline in their catalytic activities. This decline in antioxidant efficiency is an important factor in generating oxidative stress in plants under chromium stress. However, both metallothioneins and organic acids are important in plants as components of tolerance mechanisms and are also involved in detoxification of this toxic metal.

Tolerance and prospection of phytoremediator woody species of Cd, Pb, Cu and Cr

“…Both chromate and dichromate are considered to be negatively charged and there is a limited chance of them being adsorbed by organic materials, as stressed by Panda and Choudhury (2005). According to these authors, Cr 6+ , in contrast to Cr 3+ , is absorbed by the plant due to its natural soil mobility.…”

“…This fact can cause interactions between Cr 3+ and other essential elements that can have a significant effect on the concentration of nutrients and their plant distribution, as well as modifications to some physiological and morphological plant processes (Panda and Choudhury, 2005). Chromium in the soil solution is absorbed by roots through transporters used for absorption of metals essential to plant metabolism.…”

“…Chromium stress can induce metabolic modifications in plants, such as alterations in photosynthesis (Barbosa et al, 2007), degradation of photosynthetic pigments and induction of oxidative stress (Panda and Choudhury, 2005). Furthermore, Cr promotes reduction of leaf area TOLERANCE AND PROSPECTION OF PHYTOREMEDIATOR WOODY SPECIES and biochemical changes responsible for the inhibition of chlorophyll synthesis (Vajpayee et al, 1999) and disorganization of the chloroplast ultrastructure (Panda and Choudhury, 2005).…”

Assessment of Heavy Metals in Sediments of Iloilo Batiano River, Philippines

“…Cadmium, on the other hand, is a non-essential heavy metal resulting from agricultural, mining, industrial and even from the exhaust smoke emitted by vehicles [5]. Chromium is also a toxic environmental pollutant which can cause detrimental effects to plants and animals [6], [7].…”

QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF CADMIUM STRESS USING GENOME TEMPLATE STABILITY IN Hordeum vulgare

“…Cadmium (Cd) contamination has become a severe global issue and is considered a dangerous environmental pollutant not only for its neurotoxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects, but also for the high water solubility and thereby easier entry into human body via food (Koizumi and Yamada, 2003). Phytotoxicity of heavy metals such as Cd, Cu and Zn is long known and well documented (Prasad, 2004;Panda and Choudhury, 2005). Metal ions may directly interfere with the metabolic activities by altering the conformation of proteins, for example enzymes, transporters or regular proteins, owing to their strong affinities as ligands to sulfhydryl and carboxylic groups (Sharma et al, 2004).…”