The endophytic bacterium Sphingomonas SaMR12 alleviates Cd stress in oilseed rape through regulation of the GSH-AsA cycle and antioxidative enzymes.

Background: Microbes isolated from hyperaccumulating plants have been reported to be effective in achieving higher phytoextraction efficiency. The plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) SaMR12 from the cadmium (Cd)/zinc hyperaccumulator Sedum alfredii Hance could promote the growth of a non-host plant, oilseed rape, under Cd stress. However, the effect of SaMR12 on Brasscia juncea antioxidative response under Cd exposure was still unclear.

Results: A hydroponic experiment was conducted to study the effects of Sphingomonas SaMR12 on its non-host plant Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. under four different Cd treatments. The results showed that SaMR12 could colonize and aggregate in the roots and then move to the shoots. SaMR12 inoculation promoted plant growth by up to 71% in aboveground biomass and 81% in root biomass over that of the non-inoculated plants. SaMR12-inoculated plants significantly enhanced root Cd accumulation in the 10 and 20 μM Cd treatments, with 1.72- and 0.86-fold increases, respectively, over that of the non-inoculated plants. SaMR12 inoculation not only decreased shoot hydrogen peroxide (HO) content by up to 38% and malondialdehyde (MDA) content by up to 60% but also reduced proline content by 7-30% in shoots and 17-32% in roots compared to the levels in non-inoculated plants. Additionally, SaMR12 inoculation promoted the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and facilitated the relative gene expression levels of dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) involved in the glutathione (GSH)-ascorbic acid (AsA) cycle.

Conclusions: The results demonstrated that, under Cd stress, SaMR12 inoculation could activate the antioxidative response of B. juncea by decreasing the concentrations of HO, MDA and proline, increasing the activities of antioxidative enzymes, and regulating the GSH-AsA cycle. These results provide a theoretical foundation for the potential application of hyperaccumulator endophytic bacteria as remediating agents to improve heavy metal tolerance within non-host plant species, which could further improve phytoextraction efficiency.