Alessandro Ferri, Clarissa Lancilli, Moez Maghrebi, Giorgio Lucchini, Gian Attilio Sacchi, Fabio F. Nocito
Abstract
The processes involved in cadmium detoxification in plants deeply affect sulfate uptake and thiol homeostasis and generate increases in the plant nutritional request for sulfur. Here, we present an analysis of the dependence of Arabidopsis growth on the concentration of sulfate in the growing medium with the aim of providing evidence on how plants optimize growth at a given sulfate availability. Results revealed that short-term (72 h) exposure to a broad range of Cd concentrations (0.1, 1, and 10 μM) inhibited plant growth but did not produce any significant effects on the growth pattern of both shoots and roots in relation to the external sulfate. Conversely, long-term (22 days) exposure to 0.1 μM Cd significantly changed the pattern of fresh weight accumulation of the shoots in relation to the external sulfate, without affecting that of the roots, although their growth was severely inhibited by Cd. Moreover, under long-term exposure to Cd, increasing the sulfate external concentration up to the critical value progressively reduced the inhibitory effects exerted by Cd on shoot growth, indicating the existence of sulfate-dependent adaptive responses protecting the shoot tissues against Cd injury. Transcriptional induction of the high-affinity sulfate transporter genes (SULTR1; 1 and SULTR1; 2) involved in sulfate uptake by roots was a common adaptive response to both short- and long-term exposure to Cd. Such a response was closely related to the total amount of non-protein thiols accumulated by a single plant under short-term exposure to Cd, but did not showed any clear relation with thiols under long-term exposure to Cd. In this last condition, Cd exposure did not change the level of non-protein thiols per plant and thus did not alter the nutritional need for sulfur. In conclusion, our results indicate that long term-exposure to Cd, although it induces sulfate uptake, decreases the capacity of the Arabidopsis roots to efficiently absorb the sulfate ions available in the growing medium making the adaptive response of SULTR1; 1 and SULTR1; 2 "per se" not enough to optimize the growth at sulfate external concentrations lower than the critical value.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 27 June 2017.
All research outputs
#14,350,775
of 22,979,862 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Plant Science
#8,225
of 20,425 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#175,418
of 313,723 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Plant Science
#295
of 600 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,979,862 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 35th percentile – i.e., 35% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 20,425 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.0. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 55% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 313,723 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 41st percentile – i.e., 41% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 600 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 46th percentile – i.e., 46% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
