ABSTRACT
Mucilage is thought to play a role in salinity tolerance in certain halophytic species by regulating water ascent and ion transport. The localization and composition of mucilage in the halophyte Kosteletzkya virginica was therefore investigated. Plants were grown in a hydroponic system in the presence or absence of 100mM NaCl and regularly harvested for growth parameter assessment and mucilage analysis with the gas liquid chromatography method. NaCl treatment stimulated shoot growth and biomass accumulation, had little effect on shoot and root water content, and reduced leaf water potential (Psi(w)), osmotic potential (Psi(s)) as well as stomatal conductance (g(s)). Mucilage increased in shoot, stems and roots in response to salt stress. Furthermore, changes were also observed in neutral monosaccharide components. Levels of rhamnose and uronic acid increased with salinity. Staining with a 0.5% alcian blue solution revealed the presence of mucopolyssacharides in xylem vessels and salt-induced mucilaginous precipitates on the leaf abaxial surface. Determination of ion concentrations showed that a significant increase of Na(+) and a decrease of K(+) and Ca(2+) simultaneously occurred in tissues and in mucilage under salt stress. Considering the high proportion of rhamnose and uronic acid in stem mucilage, we suggest that the pectic polysaccharide could be involved in Na(+) fixation, though only a minor fraction of accumulated sodium appeared to be firmly bound to mucilage.
Subject(s)
Adhesives/analysis , Malvaceae/physiology , Polysaccharides/analysis , Salt-Tolerant Plants/physiology , Adhesives/metabolism , Malvaceae/chemistry , Osmotic Pressure , Plant Leaves/chemistry , Plant Leaves/physiology , Plant Roots/chemistry , Plant Roots/physiology , Plant Shoots/chemistry , Plant Shoots/physiology , Plant Stems/chemistry , Plant Stems/physiology , Polysaccharides/metabolism , Polysaccharides/physiology , Rhamnose/analysis , Rhamnose/metabolism , Salinity , Salt-Tolerant Plants/chemistry , Stress, Physiological/physiology , Uronic Acids/analysis , Uronic Acids/metabolism , Xylem/physiologyABSTRACT
Beside a direct toxicity, cadmium impact on plants involves both a secondary-induced water stress and an oxidative stress. Proliferating cell lines of Atriplex halimus were selected for their sensitivity or resistance to polyethylene glycol (PEG 10,000, 20%) and then exposed to 100 microM CdCl2 in the simultaneous presence or absence of PEG 20% or 150 mM NaCl. The PEG resistant cell line exhibited a higher growth in the presence of Cd than the sensitive line, although Cd acccumulation was higher in the former than in the latter. Exogenous PEG induced an increase in Cd concentration in the sensitive but not in the resistant cell line while NaCl induced a decrease in Cd accumulation in both cell lines. In the presence of Cd alone, the water content (WC) was higher and the osmotic potential was lower in PEG-sensitive than in PEG resistant line. The presence of PEG in the Cd-containing medium increased the WC and decreased the osmotic potential in PEG-resistant line comparatively to Cd stress alone, while an inverse trend was observed for the sensitive line. The PEG-resistant cell line displayed a higher ability to cope with oxidative stress in relation to an increase of endogenous antioxidants (glutathione and ascorbic acid), a high constitutive superoxide dismutase (EC 1.15.1.1) activity and an efficient Cd-induced increase in glutathione reductase (GR) (EC 1.6.4.1) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) (EC 1.11.1.11). Cadmium tolerance in PEG-resistant line is thus not related to any strategy of Cd exclusion or osmotic adjustment but to tolerance mechanisms allowing the tissue to restrict the deleterious impact of accumulated Cd.
