Hydrogen gas promotes the adventitious rooting in cucumber under cadmium stress

PLoS One. 2019 Feb 20;14(2):e0212639. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212639. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Hydrogen gas (H2) plays an important role in plant development and stress responses. Here, cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) explants were used to investigate the roles of H2 in adventitious root development under cadmium (Cd) stress and its physiological mechanism. The results showed that hydrogen-rich water (HRW) promoted adventitious rooting under Cd stress and 50% HRW obtained the maximal biological response. Compared with Cd treatment, HRW + Cd treatment significantly reduced the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide radical (O2-), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), ascorbic acid (AsA) and reduced glutathione (GSH), as well as relative electrical conductivity (REC), lipoxygenase (LOX) activity, AsA/docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) ratio, and GSH/oxidized glutathione (GSSG) ratio, while increasing DHA and GSSG content. HRW + Cd treatment also significantly increased in the activity and related gene expression of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR). Additionally, HRW + Cd treatment increased the contents of osmotic adjustment substances, as well as the activities of peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO), while significantly decreasing indoleacetic acid oxidase (IAAO) activity. In summary, H2 could induce adventitious rooting under Cd stress by decreasing the oxidative damage, increasing osmotic adjustment substance content and regulating rooting-related enzyme activity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cadmium / metabolism*
  • Cucumis sativus / enzymology
  • Cucumis sativus / growth & development*
  • Cucumis sativus / physiology
  • Hydrogen / metabolism*
  • Osmoregulation
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Plant Roots / enzymology
  • Plant Roots / growth & development*
  • Plant Roots / physiology
  • Stress, Physiological

Substances

  • Cadmium
  • Hydrogen

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Discipline construction fund project of Gansu Agriculture University grant number GAU-XKJS-2018-223 (http://www.gsau.edu.cn/), the National Natural Science Foundation of China grant numbers (31860568, 31560563 and 31160398) (http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/), the National Key Research and Development Program grant number 2018YFD1000800 (http://program.most.gov.cn/), the Research Fund of Higher Education of Gansu, China grant number 2018C-14 (http://www.gsedu.gov.cn/), the Post-Doctoral Foundation of China grant numbers (20100470887 and 2012T50828) (http://jj.chinapostdoctor.org.cn/V1/Program3/Default.aspx) and the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province, China grant numbers (1606RJZA073 and 1606RJZA077) (http://www.gsstc.gov.cn/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.