Detoxifying toxicants: interactions between sulfide and iron toxicity in freshwater wetlands.

In many Dutch freshwater wetlands, concentrations of sulfate in the surface water and groundwater have increased. It is especially in peaty areas that this can lead to problems, including the reduction of sulfate to toxic sulfide. Our aquarium experiments showed that even low sulfide concentrations of 50 micromol/L are toxic to the freshwater macrophyte Nitella flexilis and the freshwater oligochaete Ophidonais serpentina. Sulfide toxicity can be modified by the availability of free iron in soil moisture or sediment from iron-rich groundwater discharge. The iron precipitates the sulfide, thereby immobilizing it and decreasing its toxicity. However, iron itself can be a toxicant as well. We found a detoxifying effect of moderate iron concentrations on sulfide toxicity, as well as a toxic effect of high iron concentrations on the growth of Potamogeton acutifolius. At the intermediate range, the formation of metal sulfides can simultaneously decrease metal and sulfide toxicity. Results of the experiments are discussed in relation to hydrological changes in freshwater wetlands.

Interactions between ethylene and gibberellins in phytochrome-mediated shade avoidance responses in tobacco.

Plants respond to proximate neighbors with a suite of responses that comprise the shade avoidance syndrome. These phytochrome-mediated responses include hyponasty (i.e. a more vertical orientation of leaves) and enhanced stem and petiole elongation. We showed recently that ethylene-insensitive tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants (Tetr) have reduced responses to neighbors, showing an important role for this gaseous plant hormone in shade avoidance. Here, we investigate interactions between phytochrome signaling and ethylene action in shade avoidance responses. Furthermore, we investigate if ethylene acts in these responses through an interaction with the GA class of hormones. Low red to far-red light ratios (R:FR) enhanced ethylene production in wild-type tobacco, resulting in shade avoidance responses, whereas ethylene-insensitive plants showed reduced shade avoidance responses. Plants with inhibited GA production showed hardly any shade avoidance responses at all to either a low R:FR or increased ethylene concentrations. Furthermore, low R:FR enhanced the responsiveness of hyponasty and stem elongation in both wild-type and Tetr plants to applied GA(3), with the stem elongation process being more responsive to GA(3) in the wild type than in Tetr. We conclude that phytochrome-mediated shade avoidance responses involve ethylene action, at least partly by modulating GA action.