Oxidative Stress and Heavy Metals in Plants

Abstract

Oxidative stress is a pathological process related to not only animal kingdom but also plants. Regarding oxidative stress in plants, heavy metals are frequently discussed as causative stimuli with relevance to ecology. Because heavy metals have broad technological importance, they can easily contaminate the environment. Much of previous effort regarding the harmful impact of the heavy metals was given to their toxicology in the animals and humans. Their implication in plant pathogeneses is less known and remains underestimated.The current paper summarizes basic facts about heavy metals, their distribution in soil, mobility, accumulation by plants, and initiation of oxidative stress including the decline in basal metabolism. The both actual and frontier studies in the field are summarized and discussed. The major pathophysiological pathways are introduced as well and link between heavy metals toxicity and their ability to initiate an oxidative damage is provided. Mobility and bioaccessibility of the metals is also considered as key factors in their impact on oxidative stress development in the plant. The metals like lead, mercury, copper, cadmium, iron, zinc, nickel, vanadium are depicted in the text.Heavy metals appear to be significant contributors to pathological processes in the plants and oxidative stress is probably an important contributor to the effect. The most sensitive plant species are enlisted and discussed in this review. The facts presented here outline next effort to investigate pathological processes in the plants.

carbon and nitrogen metabolism of young plants of Ucuúba (Virola surinamensis) in the presence of cadmium

“…2a, b). Another explanation for sucrose accumulation would be because the metal positively affects the activity of sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) and negatively affects the sucrose synthase (SuSy) (Fryzova et al 2017). In addition, the increase in sucrose concentration in V. surinamensis exposed to Cd may be related to the degradation of starch by the activity of the enzymes α-and β-amylase hydrolases although heavy metals have an inhibitory effect on these enzymes (Reyes et al 2018).…”

Assessment of Accumulation of Heavy Metals and Lipid Peroxidation in Common Reed (Phragmites australis) in the Albanian Part of Lake Ohrid

“…Quantitative determination of malondialdehyde provides the knowledge on the rate of lipid peroxidation and by this also the oxidative stress caused by the toxicity of heavy metals (Sytar et al, 2013;Fryzova et al, 2018). In the current research, MDA was determined on the stalk of the Table 4.…”

“…Malondialdehyde (MDA) constitutes a marker for lipid peroxidation, and protein carbonyl content corresponds to the protein oxidation. In addition to the breakdown of the constituent components of the cell structure, they simultaneously act as an important secondary messenger for inducing a plant defense system (Sytar et al, 2013;Fryzova et al, 2018). The purpose of this research was to assess the environmental pollution in the Albanian part of Lake Ohrid through the accumulation of two metals: chromium and nickel in sediments and plants.…”

Toxicity, Physiological, and Ultrastructural Effects of Arsenic and Cadmium on the Extremophilic Microalga Chlamydomonas acidophila

“…Equal biotoxicity for As(III) and As(V) was evaluated for Chlorella sp. (25 mg/L) [57] and Chlorella salina [58]. Several physicochemical factors (pH, phosphate, certain metals) seem to be involved in the modulation of uptake and biosorption of As and, therefore, in the biotoxicity [58][59][60][61].…”

“…Oxidative stress is one of the main mechanisms attributed to Cd toxicity [23,62]. However, mechanisms of oxidative stress generation by this metal have not been yet fully understood in photosynthetic organisms [57,63]. Although Cd cytotoxicity bioassays using microalgae are quite numerous, only two direct reports of ROS induction by Cd have been published.…”