Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

SRO1 regulates heavy metal mercury stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana

  • Article
  • Plant Physiology
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Heavy metals in the environment are harmful limiting factors for the normal growth and development of plants. Here, we isolated and identified an Arabidopsis thaliana T-DNA insertion mutant, named sro1-1, which showed a hyper-sensitive response to HgCl2. The SRO1 protein contains a WWE domain that mediates protein-protein interactions. Under HgCl2 treatment, when compared with the wild-type plants, the growth of sro1-1 was repressed dramatically and the number of true leaves was reduced and etiolated. The electrolyte leakage rates showed that cell membrane integrity in sro1-1 was damaged more severely than in the wild type. DAB (3,5-diaminobenzidine) staining and confocal microscopy showed that Hg2+ stress induced more hydrogen peroxide accumulation in sro1-1 than in the wild type. The qRT-PCR results indicated that the expression of some abiotic stress-induced genes, such as L-ascorbate peroxidase (APX1), was reduced under oxidative or Hg2+ stress. Transgenic plants containing a GFP::SRO1 fusion protein showed that SRO1 was localized in the nucleus of the cells. SRO1 was shown to be expressed in various tissues, and was most highly expressed in the vigorous tissues. Our results suggest that SRO1 may play an important role in the stress response of A. thaliana to heavy metals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Schroeder WH, Munthe J (1998) Atmospheric mercury—an overview. Atmosph Environ 39:809–822

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Sugiyama M (1994) Role of cellular antioxidants in metal-induced damage. Cell Biol Toxicol 10:1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Cho UH, Park JO (2000) Mercury-induced oxidative stress in tomato seedlings. Plant Sci 156:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Patra M, Sharma A (2000) Mercury toxicity in plants. Bot Rev 66:379–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Krupa Z, Baszynski T (1995) Some aspects of heavy metals toxicity towards photosynthetic apparatus: direct and indirect effects on light and dark reactions. Acta Physiol Plant 17:177–190

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chaney RL, Malik M, Li YM et al (1997) Phytoremediation of soil metals. Curr Opin Biotechnol 8:279–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Feng Ma J, Hiradate S, Matsumoto H (1998) High aluminum resistance in buckwheat. Ii. Oxalic acid detoxifies aluminum internally. Plant Physiol 117:753–759

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Haag-Kerwer A, Schafer H, Heiss S et al (1999) Cadmium exposure in Brassica juncea causes a decline in transpiration rate and leaf expansion without effect on photosynthesis. J Exp Bot 50:1827–1835

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Belles-Boix E, Babiychuk E, Montagu MV et al (2000) CEO1, a new protein from Arabidopsis thaliana, protects yeast against oxidative damage. FEBS Lett 482:19–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lippuner V, Cyert MS, Gasser CS (1996) Two classes of plant cDNA clones differentially complement yeast calcineurin mutants and increase salt tolerance of wild-type yeast. J Biol Chem 271:12859–12866

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Overmyer K, Tuominen H, Kettunen R et al (2000) Ozone-sensitive Arabidopsis rcd1 mutant reveals opposite roles for ethylene and jasmonate signaling pathways in regulating superoxide-dependent cell death. Plant Cell 12:1849–1862

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Fujibe T, Saji H, Arakawa K et al (2004) A methyl viologen-resistant mutant of Arabidopsis, which is allelic to ozone-sensitive rcd1, is tolerant to supplemental ultraviolet-B irradiation. Plant Physiol 134:275–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Jiang L, Wang Y, Björn LO et al (2009) Arabidopsis radical-induced cell death1 is involved in UV-B signaling. Photochem Photobiol Sci 8:838–846

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Ahlfors R, Lång S, Overmyer K et al (2004) Arabidopsis radical-induced cell death1 belongs to the WWE protein-protein interaction domain protein family and modulates abscisic acid, ethylene, and methyl jasmonate responses. Plant Cell 16:1925–1937

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Jaspers P, Blomster T, Brosché M et al (2009) Unequally redundant RCD1 and SRO1 mediate stress and developmental responses and interact with transcription factors. Plant J 60:268–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Teotia S, Lamb RS (2009) The paralogous genes radical-induced cell death1 and similar to rcd one1 have partially redundant functions during Arabidopsis development. Plant Physiol 151:180–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Clough SJ, Bent AF (1998) Floral dip: a simplified method for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant J 16:735–743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Jefferson RA, Kavanagh TA, Bevan MW (1987) GUS fusions: beta-glucuronidase as a sensitive and versatile gene fusion marker in higher plants. EMBO J 6:3901–3907

    Google Scholar 

  19. Christensen H, Zhang Z, Wei YD et al (1997) Subcellular localization of H2O2 in plants. H2O2 accumulation in papillae and hypersensitive response during the barley-powdery mildew reaction. Plant J 11:1187–1194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Zhang X, Zhang L, Dong F et al (2001) Hydrogen peroxide is involved in abscisic acid-induced stomatal closure in Vicia faba. Plant Physiol 126:1438–1448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Gomes-Junior RA, Moldes CA, Delite FS et al (2006) Antioxidant metabolism of coffee cell suspension cultures in response to cadmium. Chemosphere 65:1330–1337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Rellán-Álvarez R, Ortega-Villasante C, Álvarez-Fernández A et al (2006) Stress responses of Zea mays to cadmium and mercury. Plant Soil 279:41–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Katiyar-Agarwal S, Zhu J, Kim K et al (2006) The plasma membrane Na+/H+ antiporter SOS1 interacts with RCD1 and functions in oxidative stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:18816–18821

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Ortega-Villasante C, Rellán-Alvarez R, Del Campo FF et al (2005) Cellular damage induced by cadmium and mercury in Medicago sativa. J Exp Bot 56:2239–2251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Ortega-Villasante C, Hernández LE, Rellán-Alvarez R et al (2007) Rapid alteration of cellular redox homeostasis upon exposure to cadmium and mercury in alfalfa seedlings. New Phytol 176:96–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Mittler R, Vanderauwera S, Gollery M et al (2004) Reactive oxygen gene network of plants. Trends Plant Sci 9:490–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Gomes-Junior RA, Moldes CA, Delite FS et al (2006) Antioxidant metabolism of coffee cell suspension cultures in response to cadmium. Chemosphere 65:1330–1337

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31370332, 31301165) and Plan for Scientific Innovation Talent of Henan Province (144200510017).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Laboratory of Plant Stress Biology, Department of Biology, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, China

    Xiaoli Zhang, Xiaoliang Zhao, Baozhu Li & Yuchen Miao

  2. School of Basic Medicine, Henan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, 450008, China

    Xiaoli Zhang & Jinchan Xia

Authors
  1. Xiaoli Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiaoliang Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Baozhu Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jinchan Xia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yuchen Miao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuchen Miao.

Additional information

Xiaoli Zhang and Xiaoliang Zhao have contributed equally to this work.

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, X., Zhao, X., Li, B. et al. SRO1 regulates heavy metal mercury stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana . Chin. Sci. Bull. 59, 3134–3141 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0356-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0356-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation