Qiong Zhang, Chongling Yan,Jingchun Liu, Haoliang Lu, Hanhui Duan, Jingna Du, Wenyun Wang.J Plant Growth Regul. 2013.DOI10.1007/s00344-013-9366-0 Online First

Mangrove plants seem to be highly tolerant ofhigh levels of heavy-metal pollution. Recently, someresearchers have focused on the mechanisms involved intheir metal uptake and tolerance. However, the importantmechanisms involved are still only partly understood. Thisinvestigation studied whether silicon (Si) affected cad-

mium (Cd) subcellular distribution in the leaves and roottips of Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh seedlings, resultingin the amelioration of the toxicity of Cd. The resultsshowed that Si partly overcame the reduction in growth dueto Cd. This amelioration was correlated with a reduction inCd uptake and alteration of Cd subcellular distribution. Themechanisms of Si amelioration of Cd stress were tissuedependent. In the leaves and root tips, Si reduced Cdconcentration in subcellular fractions, Cd mobility, and theconcentration of biologically active Cd in the cell wallactive space. Si did not change the distribution of Cdbetween compartments in the leaves, but it increased theproportion of Cd in the cell walls and reduced the proportion of Cd in the symplast of the root tips.