In 2021, grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) cv. Callet growing in a commercial vineyard located at Pollença (northeast of the island of Majorca, Spain) showed severe symptoms of shoot blight during spring and early summer, with an incidence of 70%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a close relative of , a model plant species used in metal hyperaccumulation studies. In a previous survey in the Catalan Pyrenees, we found two occidental and two oriental populations growing on non-metalliferous soils, with accumulated high concentrations of Cd and Zn. Our hypothesis was that the microbiome companion of the plant roots may influence the ability of these plants to absorb metals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDevelopmental senescence in plants is an age dependent process affected by phytohormones, nutrient status, and environmental factors, while the antiaging effects of zinc are recognized in humans. This study explores the possible influence of a high, non-toxic Zn-supply (12 μM) on senescence and reproductive fitness in A. thaliana.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPests and diseases pose a threat to food security, which is nowadays aggravated by climate change and globalization. In this context, agricultural policies demand innovative approaches to more effectively manage resources and overcome the ecological issues raised by intensive farming. Optimization of plant mineral nutrition is a sustainable approach to ameliorate crop health and yield.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSalinization is one of the major causes of agricultural soil degradation worldwide. In arid and semi-arid regions with calcareous soils, phosphorus (P) deficiency further worsens the quality of salinized soils. Nonetheless, nutrient poor soils could be suitable of producing second-generation energy crops.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe hypothesis of metal defense as a substitute for a defective biotic stress signaling system in metal hyperaccumulators was tested using the pathosystem Alternaria brassicicola-Noccaea caerulescens under low (2 µM), medium (12 µM) and high (102 µM) Zn supply. Regardless the Zn supply, N. caerulescens responded to fungal attack with the activation of both HMA4 coding for a Zn transporter, and biotic stress signaling pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccording to the elemental defense hypothesis the accumulation of trace elements by plants may substitute for organic defenses, while the joint effects hypothesis proposes that trace elements and organic defenses can have additive or synergistic effects against pathogens or herbivores. To evaluate these hypotheses the response of the pathosystem Alternaria brassicicola-Arabidopsis thaliana to control (2μM) and surplus (12μM) Zn was evaluated using the camalexin deficient mutant pad3-1 and mtp1-1, a mutant with impaired Zn vacuolar storage, along with the corresponding wildtypes. In vitro, a 50% inhibition of fungal growth was achieved by 440μM Zn.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Southern slope of the Pyrenees is the meridional limit for the distribution of several Noccaea populations. However, the systematic description of these populations and their hyperaccumulation mechanisms are not well established. Morphological and genetic analysis (ITS and 3 chloroplast regions) were used to identify Noccaea populations localized on non-metallicolous soils during a survey in the Catalonian Pyrenees.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSalinity is a persistent problem, causing important losses in irrigated agriculture. According to global climate change prediction models, salinity is expected to expand in the near future. Although intensive studies have been conducted on the mechanisms by which plants cope with saline conditions, the multi-component nature of salt stress tolerance has rendered most plant breeding efforts to improve the plant's response to salinity unsuccessful.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe concept of hormesis in plants is critically reviewed, taking growth stimulation by low concentrations of toxic trace elements as a reference. The importance of both non-adaptive and adaptive mechanisms underlying ion-induced hormetic growth responses is highlighted. The activation of defense mechanisms by metal ions and pathogenic elicitors and the cross talk between the signals induced by metal ions and biotic stressors are considered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor a better understanding of the metal binding pattern of N(6)-substituted adenines, six novel ternary Cu(II) complexes have been structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction: [Cu(NBzIDA)(HCy5ade)(H2O)]·H2O (1), [Cu(NBzIDA)(HCy6ade)(H2O)]·H2O (2), [Cu(FurIDA)(HCy6ade)(H2O)]·H2O (3), [Cu(MEBIDA)(HBAP)(H2O)]·H2O (4), [Cu(FurIDA)(HBAP)]n (5) and {[Cu(NBzIDA)(HdimAP)]·H2O}n (6). In these compounds NBzIDA, FurIDA and MEBIDA are N-substituted iminodiacetates with a non-coordinating aryl-methyl pendant arm (benzyl in NBzIDA, p-tolyl in MEBIDA and furfuryl in FurIDA) whereas HBAP, HCy5ade, HCy6ade and HdimAP are N(6)-substituted adenine derivatives with a N-benzyl, N-cyclopentyl, N-cyclohexyl or two N-methyl groups, respectively. Regardless of the molecular (1-4) or polymeric (5-6) nature of the studied compounds, the Cu(II) centre exhibits a type 4+1 coordination where the tridentate IDA-like chelators adopt a mer-conformation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe role of defence gene expression triggered by Cd toxicity in the plant's response to Botrytis cinerea was investigated in Arabidopsis thaliana Columbia 0. Silicon (0 or 1.5 mM) and Cd (0, 1 or 10 μM) were supplied to 3-month-old solution-cultured plants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCytokinin (CK) receptors have different affinities for certain ligands, and consequently, studies of the plant's response to CK analogues constitute a good approach to identify active compounds that trigger specific plant responses. In this study, N(6) and N(6),N(6)-substituted CK analogues were synthesized and their CK-like activity was examined in the Amaranthus betacyanin and the bacterial receptor assay. The compounds showed CK-like activities that were not always associated with their binding affinity to the Arabidopsis receptors AHK3 and CRE1/AHK4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBean plants, Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Contender, were grown in the spring and summer seasons to study the relationship between xylem Na+/Cl-, transpiration rate, and salt tolerance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe relationship between Na+, major cation concentrations and salt tolerance under long-term saline conditions of Medicago arborea and Medicago citrina was studied. Plants were grown in solution culture in 1, 50, 100, or 200 mmol/L NaCl for 30 days in a climate-controlled greenhouse. Stem and petiole growth was the most affected by salt in both species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo tree medics contrasting in salt tolerance, Medicago arborea and Medicago citrina, were compared to evaluate the relative importance of abscisic acid on leaf growth and stomatal responses to salt stress. Plants were grown for 30 d in solution culture with 1, 50, 100 or 200 mM NaCl. Salinized plants of M.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF