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Plant Biol (Stuttg) 2007; 9(5): 662-671
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-965440
Research Paper

Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart KG · New York

Chromate Differentially Affects the Expression of a High-Affinity Sulfate Transporter and Isoforms of Components of the Sulfate Assimilatory Pathway in Zea mays (L.)

M. Schiavon1 , M. Wirtz2 , P. Borsa1 , S. Quaggiotti1 , R. Hell2 , M. Malagoli1
  • 1Department of Agricultural Biotechnologies, University of Padua, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro (Padua), Italy
  • 2Heidelberg Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 360, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Further Information

Publication History

Received: March 31, 2007

Accepted: May 15, 2007

Publication Date:
13 September 2007 (online)

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Abstract

In this study the chromate accumulation and tolerance were investigated in Zea mays L. in relation to sulfur availability since sulfate may interact with chromate for transport into the cells. Chromate inhibited sulfate uptake when supplied to plants for a short-term period, whereas phosphate uptake remained unchanged. Sulfate absorption was also reduced in S-starved (-S) and S-supplied (+S) plants treated for 2 d with 0.2 mM chromate and the concomitant repression of the root high-affinity sulfate root transporter ZmST1;1 transcript accumulation was observed. Conversely, the plasma membrane H+-ATPase Mha2 was unaffected by chromate in +S plants, allowing to exclude a general effect of chromate on the active membrane transport. As observed for sulfate uptake, chromate uptake was enhanced in -S condition and decreased in both +S and -S plants after 2 d of Cr treatment. Chromate reduced the concentration of sulfur and sulfate in +S plants to the basal level of -S plants, and maximum chromium accumulation was recorded in S-deprived plants. Analysis of transcript abundance of genes involved in sulfate assimilation revealed differential regulation by chromate, which was only partly related to sulfur availability and to the levels of thiols. This work shows for the first time that chromate specifically represses sulfate uptake, and such repression occurs without the implication of the candidate regulatory metabolites of the sulfate transport system in plants.

Key words

Chromate - sulfate - uptake - maize - gene expression - thiols.

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M. Malagoli

Department of Agricultural Biotechnologies
University of Padua

Agripolis

35020 Legnaro (Padua)

Italy

Email: mario.malagoli@unipd.it

Guest Editor: T. Rausch