Increase of glutathione in mine population of Sedum alfredii: A Zn hyperaccumulator and Pb accumulator

Q. Sun, Z. H. Ye, X. R. Wang, Ming Hung WONG*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

74 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Phytochelatins (PCs) have been induced in a large range of plant species, but their role in heavy metal tolerance is unclear. Sedum alfredii is a new zinc (Zn) hyperaccumulator and lead (Pb) accumulator found in an old Pb/Zn mine in the Zhejiang Province of China. Until now, the mechanisms of its hyperaccumulation/accumulation and tolerance were poorly understood. The aim of this work was to investigate whether PCs were differentially produced in mine populations of S. alfredii compared with a non-mine control of the same species. The results showed that plants from the mine site were more tolerant to increasing Zn and Pb concentrations than those from the control site. No PCs and cysteine (Cys) were detected by pre-column derivatization with HPLC fluorescence in any tissues of two populations at any treatment, which in turn indicated they were not responsible for Zn and Pb tolerance in the mine population. Instead, Zn and Pb treatments resulted in the increase of glutathione (GSH) for both populations in a tissue-dependent manner. Significant increases were observed in leaf, stem and root tissues of plants grown on the mine site. The results suggest that GSH, rather man PCs, may be involved in Zn and Pb transport, hyperaccumulation/accumulation and tolerance in mine population of S. alfredii.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2549-2556
Number of pages8
JournalPhytochemistry
Volume66
Issue number21
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2005

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Plant Science
  • Horticulture

User-Defined Keywords

  • Glutathione
  • Lead accumulator
  • Phytochelatins
  • Sedum alfredii
  • Zinc hyperaccumulator

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