The regulatory role of abscisic acid on cadmium uptake, accumulation and translocation in plants

Abstract

To date, Cd contamination of cropland and crops is receiving more and more attention around the world. As a plant hormone, abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in Cd stress response, but its effect on plant Cd uptake and translocation varies among plant species. In some species, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Brassica chinensis, Populus euphratica, Lactuca sativa, and Solanum lycopersicum, ABA inhibits Cd uptake and translocation, while in other species, such as Solanum photeinocarpum and Boehmeria nivea, ABA severs the opposite effect. Interestingly, differences in the methods and concentrations of ABA addition also triggered the opposite result of Cd uptake and translocation in Sedum alfredii. The regulatory mechanism of ABA involved in Cd uptake and accumulation in plants is still not well-established. Therefore, we summarized the latest studies on the ABA synthesis pathway and comparatively analyzed the physiological and molecular mechanisms related to ABA uptake, translocation, and detoxification of Cd in plants at different ABA concentrations or among different species. We believe that the control of Cd uptake and accumulation in plant tissues can be achieved by the appropriate ABA application methods and concentrations in plants.

Evolutionary studies of the basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) IVc gene family in plants and the role of AtILR3 in Arabidopsis response to ABA stress

“…Interestingly, knockout or overexpression of the AtILR3 gene did not alter the Cd accumulation, while the ABA treatment observably increased the Cd accumulation in the roots and leaves of all plants (Figure 8B), suggesting that there appeared to be an unidentified influx transporter for the Cd in roots that were associated with ABA signalling and completely unrelated to the AtILR3 . ABA has a vital function in the Cd stress response, but the regulatory mechanism by which plants accumulate and uptake Cd remains unclear (Shen et al, 2022). Taken together, these ion accumulation patterns suggested that ABA treatment has a strong effect on ion homeostasis, implying that certain metal ions, such as Cd, play potential roles in ABA signalling pathways.…”

Integrative physiological, transcriptomic, and metabolomic analysis of Abelmoschus manihot in response to Cd toxicity

“…The upregulated DEMs were predominantly composed of alkaloids, lipids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, organic acids, amino acids, nucleotides, and their derivatives ( Supplementary Table S7 ). Interestingly, at the early stage of Cd stress, there was a significant increase in the level of abscisic acid potentially triggering intricate stress-adaptive signaling cascades ( Shen et al., 2022 ). Additionally, melatonin was significantly upregulated at all time points ( Figure 6C ) consistent with previous findings ( Ahammed et al., 2024 ).…”

WRKY Transcription Factor Responses and Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses in Plants

“…If heavy metals accumulate excessively in food crops, human consumption of such excess crops will cause great harm to human health. Therefore, heavy metals are essential for human food security [82][83][84][85]. Gu et al identified that the WRKY transcription factor gene ZmWRKY64 is enhanced in maize roots and leaves under cadmium stress, and that knocking down the expression of ZmWRKY64 leads to excessive cadmium accumulation in leaf and root cells, resulting in a cadmium-sensitive phenotype.…”