Juan Chen, Wen-Hua Wang, Fei-Hua Wu, Chun-Yan You, Ting-Wu Liu, Xue-Jun Dong, Jun-Xian He, Hai-Lei Zheng Pennings.Plant Soil,2013.362: 301–318.
Aims Aluminum (Al) toxicity is one of themajor factorsthat limit plant growth. Low concentration of hydrogensulfide (H2S) has been proven to function in physiologicalresponses to various stresses. The objective of thisstudy is to investigate the possible role of H2S in Altoxicity in barley (Hordeum vulgare L) seedlings.Methods Barley seedlings pre-treated with sodiumhydrosulfide (NaHS), a H2S donor, and subsequentlyexposed to Al treatment were studied for their effectson root elongation, Al accumulation in seedlings, Alinducedcitrate secretion and oxidative stress, andplasma membrane (PM) H+-ATPase expression.Results Our results showed that H2S had significantrescue effects on Al-induced inhibition of root elongationwhich was correlated well with the decrease ofAl accumulation in seedlings. Meanwhile, Al-inducedcitrate secretion was also significantly enhanced byNaHS pretreatment. Al-induced oxidative stress asindicated by lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygenspecies burst was alleviated by H2S through the activationof the antioxidant system. Moreover, Alinducedreduction in PM H+-ATPase expression wasreversed by exogenous NaHS.Conclusions Altogether, our results suggest H2S playsan ameliorative role in protecting plants against Altoxicity by inducing the activities of antioxidantenzymes, increasing citrate secretion and citrate transportergene expression, and enhancing the expressionof PM H+-ATPase.
