Response to lead (Pb) treatment of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings: effect of pretreatment with sodium nitroprusside (SNP)

• Main Author: Phang, Ing Chia
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Q Science (General)
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/11567/1/ABCD-abstracts_08_web.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/11567/
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

Plants are regularly exposed to unfavorable conditions that impose stress. Lead (Pb), is one of the major pollutants in the environment that causes serious public health and environmental concern. Increasing levels of lead could also have severe consequences for plants. Plants exposed to lead stress initiate signalling pathway, and make specific changes in cell physiology and metabolism to avoid or tolerate the stress. However, mechanisms to reduce the effects of lead may vary from plant to plant, development stage, and culture medium. Nitric oxide is an important signalling molecule in plant development and defence responses. It has been shown to play a major role in plant responses to several abiotic stresses, such as heat, chilling, drought, salt, UV irradiation and ozone exposure. The objective of this study is to examine the physiological responses to lead exposure of Arabidopsis thaliana seeds pretreated with sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a nitric oxide donor. All experiments were carried out using 7-days-old seedlings. The results obtained will be discussed in relation to a strategy to tolerate lead accumulation in plant cells.