Improved growth of pea, lettuce, and radish plants using the slow release of hydrogen sulfide from GYY-4137

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a key gasotransmitter in agriculture and has been reported to increase the growth of plants in the first two weeks and to mitigate the effects of environmental stressors. GYY-4137 is widely used in these studies because it slowly releases H2S, but there is disagreement as to whether it requires enzymes to release H2S. In this article we describe the release of H2S in water without enzymes and that it releases H2S faster in organic solvents than in water or when mixed in topsoil. Furthermore, we describe the long-term effect of dosing pea, radish, and lettuce plants with GYY-4137 for up to six weeks. The effect of GYY-4137 on plant growth for six weeks was either positive or negative depending on the loading of GYY-4137 and how it was applied to plants. The addition of GYY-4137 to lettuce plants via potting mix resulted in reduced growth and death of the plants. In contrast, application of GYY-4137 to the leaves of lettuce plants increased the harvest weight of the leaves by up to 86%. Our results demonstrate that GYY-4137 can have a positive, important effect on the growth of plants but that this effect is dependent on several factors.

Synthesis, Stability, and Kinetics of Hydrogen Sulfide Release of Dithiophosphates

“… 2 , 11 − 22 , 52 GYY-4137 was shown to increase the harvest yield of lettuce and radishes when grown from seeds to harvest in less than six weeks. 14 This work was completed in a greenhouse with plants individually planted in growing pots. In an outdoor trial using corn grown individually in potting containers, dibutyldithiophosphate was shown to increase the weight of corn stalks when it was added to the seed at planting and the corn plants were harvested after 4.5 weeks.…”

“…In recent work, we showed that milligram loadings of GYY-4137 and dibutyldithiophosphate increased the harvest yields of radishes ( Raphanus sativus ), peas, and lettuce and increased the growth of corn plants. 11 , 14 The mechanism for how H 2 S has an important effect on plants is poorly understood, although it is likely that it acts on plant enzymes similar to how it has been shown to act on enzymes in human cells. 4 , 7 − 10 The application of exogenous H 2 S in agriculture is a new and potentially useful target to promote the survival of plants in a changing climate and to improve the harvest yields of many crops.…”

“…24 In prior work by us and others, it was shown that <3% of GYY-4137 hydrolyzed to release H 2 S in water at room temperature after 35 days and that 50% hydrolyzed in CDCl 3 using residual water at room temperature after 13 days. 14,33 This showed that the environment of GYY-4137 can strongly impact its rate of hydrolysis. Chemicals that release H 2 S by reaction with thiols or with light have been reported, but in this paper, we emphasize the release of H 2 S by hydrolysis with water because of the slow, steady release of H 2 S over weeks to months through this mechanism.…”

Development of a hydrolysis-based small-molecule hydrogen selenide (H2Se) donor

“…[24][25][26] Although the structure and complexity of such systems have evolved signicantly, an early and broadly-used example of such donors is the hydrolysisactivated donor GYY4137, which relies on the hydrolytic cleavage of P]S bonds to generate H 2 S. 27 GYY4137 has been used in >200 publications to date (Web of Science) and exhibits anti-inammatory, vasorelaxant, and anti-cancer as well as other effects in different biological models [27][28][29] with diverse applications ranging from medicinal to agricultural science. 30,31 Motivated by the broad utility of this approach to access H 2 S donor motifs, we sought to use similar chemistry to generate well-dened H 2 Se donors that are activated by P]Se bond hydrolysis. To prepare such a donor, we treated Woollins' reagent with an excess of morpholine, drawing parallels to the synthesis of GYY4137, to generate TDN1042 in moderate yield (Fig.…”

Priming Strategies for Benefiting Plant Performance under Toxic Trace Metal Exposure

“…Their solutions are easy to prepare and apply; however, release of gaseous H 2 S to the atmosphere is quite fast. Recently, slow-release donor GYY-4137 (P-(4-methoxyphenyl)-P-4-morpholinyl-phosphinodithioic acid), which releases H 2 S as a result of hydrolysis (and probably also in an enzymatic way) in a prolonged time period, was found to be more convenient to handle and experiment on plants [ 103 ]. There are no reports on its effect during metallic stress, but these are expected in the near future.…”