《Effect of Nitric Oxide on Alleviating Cadmium Toxicity in Rice Oryza sativa L》.pdfVIP

Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2013, 12(9): 1540-1550 September 2013 RESEARCH ARTICLE Effect of Nitric Oxide on Alleviating Cadmium Toxicity in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) ZHAO Xiu-feng, CHEN Lin, Muhammad I A Rehmani, WANG Qiang-sheng, WANG Shao-hua, HOU Peng- fu, LI Gang-hua and DING Yan-feng College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing 210095, P.R.China Abstract Nitric oxide (NO) is a gaseous signaling molecule in plants that plays a key role in mediating a wide range of physiological processes and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of the exogenous application of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), an NO donor, on cadmium (Cd)-induced oxidative stress and Cd uptake in rice plants. Rice plants were exposed to Cd stress (0.2 mmol L-1 CdCl ) and different concentrations of SNP (0.05, 2 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 mmol L-1 -1 ). A SNP concentration of 0.1 mmol L (SNP10) significantly reduced the Cd-induced decrease in shoot and root dry weights and leaf chlorophyll concentrations. The addition of NO also reduced the malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H O ) and ascorbic acid (ASA) concentrations. However, the reduction in glutathione (GSH) 2 2 concentration was inhibited by NO treatment. Moreover, NO prevented the Cd-induced increase in antioxidative enzyme activity. The amount of Cd accumulation in rice plants was also influenced by the addition of NO. The NO supplied by the SNP enhanced