환경오염(環境汚染)에 의한 산화(酸化)스트레스와 식물체(植物體)의 방어기작(防禦機作)

Oxidative Stress Resulting from Environmental Pollutions and Defence Mechanisms in Plants

The environmental pollutions were a serious problem in Korea recently. So many researcher have studied the effect of environmental pollution on plants and agro-ecosystem, but the basic mechanisms of environmental stresses were various. One of the important mechanisms was oxidative stress caused by active toxic oxygen. The toxic oxygen was generated by several stresses, abnormal temperature, many xenobiotics, air pollutants, water stress, fugal toxin, etc. In the species of toxic oxygen which is primary inducer of oxidative stresses, superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical and singlet oxygen were representative species. The scavenging systems were divided into two groups. One was nonenzymatic system and the other enzymatic system. Antioxidants such as glutathione, ascorbic acid, and carotenoid, have the primary function in defense mechanisms. Enzymatic system divided into two groups; First, direct interaction with toxic oxygen(eg. superoxide dismutase). Second, participation in redox reaction to maintain the active antioxidant levels(eg. glutathione reductase, ascorbate peroxidase, etc.).