Cadmium toxicity affects photosynthesis and plant growth at different levels

Ecophysiological responses of almond (Prunus dulcis) seedlings to cadmium stress

“…In the present study, chlorophyll concentration of almond seedlings decreased significantly with an increase in Cd concentration. Chl concentration was also strongly reduced in Phyllanthus amarus (Rai et al 2005), Brassica juncea (Mobin & Khan 2007), Lycopersicon esculentum (López-Millán et al 2009), Artemisia annua and Lactuca sativa (Dias et al 2013) exposed to Cd. The reduction in chlorophyll concentration in the stressed leaves could be due to structural alterations in chloroplasts involved disorganization of the thylakoid system and stroma chloroplast damage (Gratão et al 2009).…”

Zinc-Finger Transcription Factor ZAT6 Positively Regulates Cadmium Tolerance through the Glutathione-Dependent Pathway in Arabidopsis

“…Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most dangerous environmental pollutants with high toxicity to animals and plants (Raskin et al, 1997;Lanphear, 1998;Kim et al, 2007;Shim et al, 2009;Lin and Aarts, 2012;Clemens et al, 2013;Dias et al, 2013). Cd has been demonstrated to inactivate or denature proteins by binding to sulfhydryl groups, which causes cellular damages by displacing cofactors from a variety of proteins, including transcription factors and enzymes (Goyer, 1997;Sharma et al, 2000;Schützendübel et al, 2001;Lin and Aarts, 2012).…”

Ultrastructural and Photosynthetic Response of Populus 107 Leaves to Cadmium Stress

“…Cd has been shown to be one of the most effective inhibitors of photosynthetic activity. Some investigations have been reported that plant growth is affected under Cd stress, resulting in alteration of chlorophyll synthesis [9], transpiration and respiration processes [10], and stomatal opening [11], thus reducing photosynthesis [12,13]. The chloroplast is a large, complex double membrane organelle that performs the function of photosynthesis within plant cells and contains the substance chlorophyll that is essential for this process.…”