• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.259-264
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• 2004

The present study describes the ameliorating effect of $Ca^{++}\;on\;Cd^{++}$ toxicity on the germination, early growth of mungbean seedlings, nitrogen assimilation enzyme. s-nitrate reductase (NR), nitrite reductase (NIR), anti-oxidant enzymes (POD, CAT and SOD) and on the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide and sulphydryls. $Cd^{++}$ inhibited seed germination and root and shoot length of seedlings. While NR activity was down- regulated, the activities of NIR, POD and SOD were up- regulated with $Cd^{++}$ treatment. $Cd^{++}$ treatment also increased the accumulation of sulphydryls and peroxides, which is reflective of increased thiol rich proteins and oxidative stress. $Ca^{++}$ reversed the toxic effects of $Cd^{++}$ on germination and on early growth of seedlings as well as on the enzyme activities, which were in turn differentially inhibited with a combined treatment with calcium specific chelator EGTA. The results indicate that the external application of $Ca^{++}$ may increase the tolerance capacity of plants to environmental pollutants by both up and down regulating metabolic activities. Abbreviations: $Cd^{++}= cadmium,\;Ca^{++} = calcium$, NR= nitrate reductase, NIR=nitrite reductase, POD = peroxidse, SOD= superoxide dismutase, CAT= catalase, EGTA= ethylene glycol-bis( $\beta-aminoethyl ether$)-N,N,N,N-tetraacetic acid.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.28.1-28.12
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• 2018

Intertidal macroalgae are exposed to many abiotic stress factors, and they must regularly react to changes in their environment. We used RNA-seq to describe how Porphyra umbilicalis (Rhodophyta) changes gene expression patterns to interact with different habitats. Tissue samples were taken from a typical habitat along the open-coast of the Northwest Atlantic, as well as from a rare, atypical habitat in an estuarine tidal rapid environment. Differential gene expression analyses suggest that pathogic bacteria and viruses may be a significant factor influencing the transcriptome in the human-impacted estuarine environment, but the atypical habitat does not necessarily induce more stress in Porphyra umbilicalis growing there. We found genes related to nitrogen transport are over-expressed in tissue from the open-coastal site compared to those from the estuarine site, where environmental N levels approach hypertrophic levels. Low N levels impede growth, but high levels are toxic to cells, and we use qPCR to show this species regulates expression of a putative high-affinity $NH_4{^+}$ transporter under low and high N conditions. Differences in expression of this transporter in these habitats appear to be inherited from parent to offspring and have general implications for adaptation to habitat in other species that are capable of asexual reproduction, as well as more specific implications for this species' use in aquaculture.