Hyperaccumulators can tolerate excess amounts of heavy metals and accumulate high concentrations of these metals in tissues without any effects on growth. These plants are useful for phytoremediation applications. Microsorum pteropus is a fully or partially submerged polypodiaceae fern that has been proved to be a novel hypothetical aquatic Cd hyperaccumulator. We investigated the capacity of Cd hyperaccumulation in root and leaf tissues and studied the Cd-induced response of M. pteropus. M. pteropus plants can tolerate up to 500 μM Cd via hydroponic delivery, with approximately 1000 mg/kg Cd accumulating in the root and leaf dry mass after 7 days of exposure. Meanwhile, the concentrations of enzymatic oxidants (SOD and POD) were significantly increased, and the level of MDA significantly decreased, after exposure to high levels of Cd. RNA-sequencing and proteome were used to study the resistance mechanisms in root and leaf tissues of M. pteropus under 500 μM Cd stress. The data suggest the existence of different resistance mechanisms between root and leaf tissues. Root tissues of M. pteropus resist the Cd damage by enhancement of energy metabolism and antioxidants. However, leaf tissues of M. pteropus mainly protect themselves by photosynthesis self-protection and cellular signaling pathway regulation. These results indicate that M. pteropus is a novel aquatic Cd hyperaccumulator that has great potential in the phytoremediation of polluted water and may propose new study direction of heavy metal stress response and phytoremediation in water conditions.

Differences in resistance mechanisms between the root and leaf tissues of hyperaccumulator Microsorum pteropus in response to Cd

256th National Meeting (2018)

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