Copper stress induces antioxidant responses and accumulation of sugars and phytochelatins in Antarctic Colobanthus quitensis (Kunth) Bartl.

Abstract

BackgroundIn field, C. quitensis is subjected to many abiotic extreme environmental conditions, such as low temperatures, high UV-B, salinity and reduced water potentials, but not metal or metalloid high concentrations in soil, however, other members of Caryophyllaceae family have tolerance to high concentrations of metals, this is the case of Silene genre. In this work, we hypothesize that C. quitensis have the same mechanisms of Silene to tolerate metals, involving accumulation and induction of antioxidant systems, sugar accumulation and the induction of thiols such as phytochelatins to tolerate.ResultsThe results showing an effective antioxidant defensive machinery involving non-enzymatic antioxidants such as phenolics, GSH and ascorbic acid, in another hand, GSH-related oligomers (phytochelatins) and sugars was induced as a defensive mechanism.ConclusionsColobanthus quitensis exhibits certain mechanisms to tolerate copper in vitro demonstrating its plasticity to tolerate several abiotic stress conditions.

Screening and Genetic Network Analysis of Genes Involved in Freezing and Thawing Resistance in DaMDHAR—Expressing Saccharomyces cerevisiae Using Gene Expression Profiling

“…There are only two species of flowering plants in the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctic hairgrass (Deschampsia antarctica) and Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis). During their entire life cycle, Antarctic plants are exposed to multiple abiotic stresses, including extreme temperatures, varying oxygen concentrations, water and nutrient deficiency, extremely short growing seasons, common summer frosts, strong winds, low light quality, and photoperiod changes [1][2][3][4]. Low temperatures, particularly freezing temperatures, can dramatically affect plants from the cellular level to ecosystem scales [5].…”

“…To overcome extreme temperature conditions, these Antarctic plant species have evolved a wide range of cell rescue systems involved in physiological and molecular functions for increasing their cold resistance through enhanced metabolic rate upon cold acclimation [4,6,7]. For example, plants in the Antarctic region have long life cycles, extended leaf and flower primordia development, well-developed root systems, and efficient photosynthetic and respiratory systems at ≤10 • C [2,6,8,9]. Various cellular changes induced by low-temperature lead to the excess accumulation of toxic compounds, particularly reactive oxygen species (ROS) [2,10].…”

“…For example, plants in the Antarctic region have long life cycles, extended leaf and flower primordia development, well-developed root systems, and efficient photosynthetic and respiratory systems at ≤10 • C [2,6,8,9]. Various cellular changes induced by low-temperature lead to the excess accumulation of toxic compounds, particularly reactive oxygen species (ROS) [2,10]. The high accumulation of ROS generates oxidative stress [11].…”

“…The high accumulation of ROS generates oxidative stress [11]. ROS can induce DNA damage, protein oxidation, membrane lipid peroxidation and pigment destruction [2,6,12]. Therefore, a considerable amount of research has been conducted to explore the correlation between ROS scavenging and plant stress tolerance under extreme temperatures [13][14][15].…”

Heavy metal stress influence the andrographolide content, phytochemicals and antioxidant activity of Andrographis paniculata

“…In comparison with the control (55.73%), the highest and the lowest DPPH radical scavenging activity was observed in 50 mM Sn (63.8%) and 50 mM Cu (34.8%) treated plants respectively. In a study (40), a 57.8% increase in the antioxidant activity was observed after 500 μM CoCl2 treatment in Salvia officinalis and in a study (46), after 15 days exposure of Colobanthus quitensis to 150 and 300 µM of copper sulphate, an induction in antioxidant activity by DPPH radical scavenging was observed in in vitro culture. A rise in DPPH activity was observed after 70 and 140 mg/L copper treatment in G. procumbens (25).…”