Phytochelatins: The Principal Heavy-Metal Complexing Peptides of Higher Plants

Grill, Erwin; Winnacker, Ernst‐Ludwig; Zenk, Meinhart H.

doi:10.1126/science.230.4726.674

Cited by 1,128 publications

(640 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Previous studies have reported Cd-induced PC synthesis (Grill et al, 1985;Ranieri et al, 2005;Wang and Wang, 2011) and identified Cd 2+ -PC n complexes either under laboratory conditions (Kobayashi and Yoshimura, 2006;Chekmeneva et al, 2007; or from plants in their native environment (Scarano and Morelli, 2002;Chen et al, 2007) as evidence for the proposed mechanism (Sanità di Toppi and Gabbrielli, 1999) involved in Cd detoxification in plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Phytochelatins (PCs) are enzymatically synthesized peptides in plants that usually consist of three amino acids: glutamic acid (Glu), cysteine (Cys) and glycine (Gly) (Kondo et al, 1984;Grill et al, 1985). The resultant glutathione (GSH) molecule (γ-Glu-Cys)-Gly is transformed into PC by γ-glutamylcysteine dipeptidyl transpeptidase (phytochelatin synthase, EC 2.3.2.15), forming the general structural formula of (γ-Glu-Cys) n -Gly, where n ranges from 2-11 (Grill et al, 1985;1987;.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The resultant glutathione (GSH) molecule (γ-Glu-Cys)-Gly is transformed into PC by γ-glutamylcysteine dipeptidyl transpeptidase (phytochelatin synthase, EC 2.3.2.15), forming the general structural formula of (γ-Glu-Cys) n -Gly, where n ranges from 2-11 (Grill et al, 1985;1987;. The carboxyl-terminal Gly is replaced with serine (Ser) in gramineae hydroxymethyl PCs (Klapheck et al, 1994), β-alanine (β-Ala) in legume homo PCs (Grill et al, 1986), or can either be absent or replaced with Glu in maize (Zea mays, Meuwly et al, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Reduced translocation of cadmium from roots is associated with increased production of phytochelatins and their precursors

Akhter

McGarvey

Macfie

2012

Journal of Plant Physiology

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SummaryCadmium (Cd) is a non-essential trace element and its environmental concentrations are approaching toxic levels, especially in some agricultural soils. Understanding how and where Cd is stored in plants is important for ensuring food safety. In this study, we examined two plant species that differ in the distribution of Cd among roots and leaves. Lettuce and barley were grown in nutrient solution under two conditions: chronic (4 week) exposure to a low, environmentally relevant concentration (1.0 µM) of Cd and acute (1 h) exposure to a high concentration (5.0 mM) of Cd. Seedlings grown in solution containing 1.0 µM CdCl 2 did not show symptoms of toxicity and, at this concentration, 77% of the total Cd was translocated to leaves of lettuce, whereas only 24% of the total Cd was translocated to barley leaves. We tested the hypothesis that differential accumulation of Cd in roots and leaves is related to differential concentrations of phytochelatins (PCs), and its precursor peptides. The amounts of PCs and their precursor peptides in the roots and shoots were measured using HPLC. Each of PC 2-4 was synthesized in the barley root upon chronic exposure to Cd and did not increase further upon acute exposure. In the case of lettuce, no PCs were detected in the root given either Cd treatment.The high amounts of PCs produced in barley root could have contributed to preferential retention of Cd in barley roots.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reduced translocation of cadmium from roots is associated with increased production of phytochelatins and their precursors

Akhter

McGarvey

Macfie

2012

Journal of Plant Physiology

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“…They are enzymatically biosynthesized in plants as a defense mechanism to cope with the stress of toxic heavy metal ions such as Cd 2+ , Pb 2+ , Ag + , and Hg 2+ , [1] as well as metalloid species such as Sb 3+ , AsO 4 − , and SeO 3 2− . Originally, biosynthesis of PCs was thought to be activated by the binding of heavy metal ions to the enzyme PC synthase, a heavy metal-activated enzyme, and terminated by sequestration of heavy metal ions by the PCs [2,3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An HPLC-ICP-MS technique for determination of cadmium–phytochelatins in genetically modified Arabidopsis thaliana

Sadi

Vonderheide

Gong

et al. 2008

Journal of Chromatography B

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A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic technique was developed to separate cadmium-phytochelatin complexes (Cd-PC 2 , Cd-PC 3 , and Cd-PC 4 ) of interest in the plant Arapidopsis thaliana. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was coupled to an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric (ICP-MS) system with some modification to the interface. This was done in order to sustain the plasma with optimum sensitivity for cadmium detection in the presence of the high methanol loads used in the gradient elution of the reversedphase separation. The detection limits were found to be 91.8 ng l −1 , 77.2 ng l −1 and 49.2 ng l −1 for Cd-PC 2 , Cd-PC 3 , and Cd-PC 4 respectively. The regression coefficients (r 2 ) for Cd-PC 2 to Cd-PC 4 detection ranged from 0.998 to 0.999. The method was then used to investigate the occurrence and effect of cadmium-phytochelatin complexes in wild-type Arabidopsis and a phytochelatin-deficient mutant cad1-3 that had been genetically modified to ectopically express the wheat TaPCS1 phytochelatin synthase enzyme. The primary complex found in both wild-type and transgenic plants was Cd-PC 2 . In both lines, higher levels of Cd-PC 2 were found in shoots than in roots, showing that phytochelatin synthases contribute to the accumulation of cadmium in shoots, in the Cd-PC 2 form. Genetic modification did, however, impact the overall accumulation of Cd. Transgenic plants contained almost two times more cadmium in the form of Cd-PC 2 in their roots than did the corresponding wild-type plants. Similarly, the shoot samples of the modified species also contained more (by 1.6 times) cadmium in the form of Cd-PC 2 than the wild type. The enhanced role of PC 2 in the transgenic Arabidopsis correlates with data showing long-distance transport of Cd in transgenic plants. Targeted transgenic expression of non-native phytochelatin synthases may contribute to improving the efficiency of plants for phytoremediation.

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“…In recent years, numeral researches have been reported that in response to toxicity of heavy metals plants could produce many kinds of reactive oxygen species, antioxidant enzyme (Rodriguez-Serrano et al, 2006;Stohs and Bagchi, 1995), glutathione (GSH) (Howden et al, 1995;Nocito et al, 2006;Sun et al, 2005), phytochelatins (PCs) (Cobbett, 2000;Grill et al, 1985;Mishra et al, 2006;Stolt et al, 2003), and other complex ligands (de la Rosa et al, 2004;Isaure et al, 2006;Zhang et al, 2004). The detoxification ways of heavy metals in plant tissues include speciation of metal with organic ligands and elimination of oxidative stress through the function of antioxidant reaction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential generation of hydrogen peroxide upon exposure to zinc and cadmium in the hyperaccumulating plant specie (Sedum alfredii Hance)

Chao

Zhang

Tian

et al. 2008

J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci. B

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Sedum alfredii Hance has been identified as zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) co-hyperaccumulator. In this paper the relationships of Zn or Cd hyperaccumulation to the generation and the role of H 2 O 2 in Sedum alfredii H. were examined. The results show that Zn and Cd contents in the shoots of Sedum alfredii H. treated with 1000 μmol/L Zn 2+ and/or 200 μmol/L Cd 2+ increased linearly within 15 d. Contents of total S, glutathione (GSH) and H 2 O 2 in shoots also increased within 15 d, and then decreased. Total S and GSH contents in shoots were higher under Cd 2+ treatment than under Zn 2+ treatment. However, reverse trends of H 2 O 2 content in shoots were obtained, in which much higher H 2 O 2 content was observed in Zn 2+ -treated shoots than in Cd 2+ -treated shoots. Similarly, the microscopic imaging of H 2 O 2 accumulation in leaves using H 2 O 2 probe technique showed that much higher H 2 O 2 accumulation was observed in the Zn 2+ -treated leaf than in the Cd 2+ -treated one. These results suggest that there are different responses in the generation of H 2 O 2 upon exposure to Zn 2+ and Cd 2+ for the hyperaccumulator Sedum alfredii H. And this is the first report that the generation of H 2 O 2 may play an important role in Zn hyperaccumulation in the leaves. Our results also imply that GSH may play an important role in the detoxification of dissociated Zn/Cd and the generation of H 2 O 2 .

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Phytochelatins: The Principal Heavy-Metal Complexing Peptides of Higher Plants

Cited by 1,128 publications

References 14 publications

Reduced translocation of cadmium from roots is associated with increased production of phytochelatins and their precursors

Reduced translocation of cadmium from roots is associated with increased production of phytochelatins and their precursors

An HPLC-ICP-MS technique for determination of cadmium–phytochelatins in genetically modified Arabidopsis thaliana

Differential generation of hydrogen peroxide upon exposure to zinc and cadmium in the hyperaccumulating plant specie (Sedum alfredii Hance)

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