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Improving the Tolerance of Crop Plants to Heavy Metal Stress
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Improving the Tolerance of Crop Plants to Heavy Metal Stress

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 3632

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Marshall Keyster

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7530, South Africa
Interests: bioremediation; biotechnology; heavy metals; ionomics; phytobacteriology; plant biotechnology; signalling molecules
Dr. Ashwil Klein

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7530, South Africa
Interests: biotechnology; heavy metals; metabolomics; plant-microbe interaction; plant science; signalling molecules
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Heavy metals are naturally occurring elements that can be found in soil and water. However, anthropogenic activities such as mining, industrial activities, and urbanization can lead to the accumulation of heavy metals in soil, which can have adverse effects on plant growth and development. The effects that heavy metals have on plants vary depending on the type of metal, the concentration of the metal in the soil, and the plant species. Some of the common heavy metals that can affect plants include cadmium, lead, mercury, chromium, vanadium, and arsenic. In plants, heavy metals can lead to the inhibition of plant growth, a decrease in photosynthetic capacity, a reduction in seed germination, negative alterations in plant metabolism, the induction of oxidative stress, alterations in membrane fluidity, the induction of lipid peroxidation, disruptions to ion transport, the inhibition of soluble enzymes and the inhibition of membrane-bound enzymes. Therefore, it is essential to monitor and manage the levels of heavy metals in soil and water to prevent their accumulation and reduce their impact on crop plant growth and development to improve food security and human health. The use of genetic engineering, microorganisms or biomolecules to improve plant defense systems under heavy metal stresses have become attractive ways to prevent heavy metal-induced damage. Therefore, in this Special Issue, we welcome articles (original research papers, short communications or reviews) that focus on alleviating heavy metal stress by altering the crop plants’ biochemistry and physiology to improve their tolerance to heavy metals.

Prof. Dr. Marshall Keyster
Dr. Ashwil Klein
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant heavy metal stress
  • signalling biomolecules
  • beneficial phytohormones
  • beneficial microorganisms
  • genetic engineering approaches
  • plant growth promotion
  • metal stress responsive genes
  • heavy metal stress tolerance
  • transcriptomic alteration
  • ionomic changes
  • metabolomic alteration
  • proteomic changes
  • improved heavy metal stress tolerance

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 6410 KiB  
Article
Elevated CO2 Can Improve the Tolerance of Avena sativa to Cope with Zirconium Pollution by Enhancing ROS Homeostasis
by Mahmoud M. Y. Madany, Hamada AbdElgawad, Doaa A. Galilah, Ahmed M. A. Khalil and Ahmed M. Saleh
Plants 2023, 12(22), 3792; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12223792 - 7 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1478
Abstract
Zirconium (Zr) is one of the toxic metals that are heavily incorporated into the ecosystem due to intensive human activities. Their accumulation in the ecosystem disrupts the food chain, causing undesired alterations. Despite Zr’s phytotoxicity, its impact on plant growth and redox status [...] Read more.
Zirconium (Zr) is one of the toxic metals that are heavily incorporated into the ecosystem due to intensive human activities. Their accumulation in the ecosystem disrupts the food chain, causing undesired alterations. Despite Zr’s phytotoxicity, its impact on plant growth and redox status remains unclear, particularly if combined with elevated CO2 (eCO2). Therefore, a greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that eCO2 can alleviate the phytotoxic impact of Zr upon oat (Avena sativa) plants by enhancing their growth and redox homeostasis. A complete randomized block experimental design (CRBD) was applied to test our hypothesis. Generally, contamination with Zr strikingly diminished the biomass and photosynthetic efficiency of oat plants. Accordingly, contamination with Zr triggered remarkable oxidative damage in oat plants, with concomitant alteration in the antioxidant defense system of oat plants. Contrarily, elevated levels of CO2 (eCO2) significantly mitigated the adverse effect of Zr upon both fresh and dry weights as well as the photosynthesis of oat plants. The improved photosynthesis consequently quenched the oxidative damage caused by Zr by reducing the levels of both H2O2 and MDA. Moreover, eCO2 augmented the total antioxidant capacity with the concomitant accumulation of molecular antioxidants (e.g., polyphenols, flavonoids). In addition, eCO2 not only improved the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as peroxidase (POX), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) but also boosted the ASC/GSH metabolic pool that plays a pivotal role in regulating redox homeostasis in plant cells. In this regard, our research offers a novel perspective by delving into the previously unexplored realm of the alleviative effects of eCO2. It sheds light on how eCO2 distinctively mitigates oxidative stress induced by Zr, achieving this by orchestrating adjustments to the redox balance within oat plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving the Tolerance of Crop Plants to Heavy Metal Stress)
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19 pages, 4268 KiB  
Article
SNAC3 Transcription Factor Enhances Arsenic Stress Tolerance and Grain Yield in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) through Regulating Physio-Biochemical Mechanisms, Stress-Responsive Genes, and Cryptochrome 1b
by Marootpong Pooam, Enas M. El-Ballat, Nathalie Jourdan, Hayssam M. Ali, Christophe Hano, Margaret Ahmad and Mohamed A. El-Esawi
Plants 2023, 12(14), 2731; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12142731 - 23 Jul 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1671
Abstract
Arsenic (As) is one of the toxic heavy metal pollutants found in the environment. An excess of As poses serious threats to plants and diminishes their growth and productivity. NAC transcription factors revealed a pivotal role in enhancing crops tolerance to different environmental [...] Read more.
Arsenic (As) is one of the toxic heavy metal pollutants found in the environment. An excess of As poses serious threats to plants and diminishes their growth and productivity. NAC transcription factors revealed a pivotal role in enhancing crops tolerance to different environmental stresses. The present study investigated, for the first time, the functional role of SNAC3 in boosting As stress tolerance and grain productivity in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Two SNAC3-overexpressing (SNAC3-OX) and two SNAC3-RNAi transgenic lines were created and validated. The wild-type and transgenic rice plants were exposed to different As stress levels (0, 25, and 50 µM). The results revealed that SNAC3 overexpression significantly improved rice tolerance to As stress and boosted grain yield traits. Under both levels of As stress (25 and 50 µM), SNAC3-OX rice lines exhibited significantly lower levels of oxidative stress biomarkers and OsCRY1b (cryptochrome 1b) expression, but they revealed increased levels of gas exchange characters, chlorophyll, osmolytes (soluble sugars, proteins, proline, phenols, and flavonoids), antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, APX, and POD), and stress-tolerant genes expression (OsSOD-Cu/Zn, OsCATA, OsCATB, OsAPX2, OsLEA3, OsDREB2B, OsDREB2A, OsSNAC2, and OsSNAC1) in comparison to wild-type plants. By contrast, SNAC3 suppression (RNAi) reduced grain yield components and reversed the aforementioned measured physio-biochemical and molecular traits. Taken together, this study is the first to demonstrate that SNAC3 plays a vital role in boosting As stress resistance and grain productivity in rice through modulating antioxidants, photosynthesis, osmolyte accumulation, and stress-related genes expression, and may be a useful candidate for further genetic enhancement of stress resistance in many crops. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving the Tolerance of Crop Plants to Heavy Metal Stress)
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