Subcellular Cd accumulation characteristic in root cell wall of rice cultivars with different sensitivities to Cd stress in soil

The variations of grain cadmiun（Cd） concentrations, translocation factors（TFs） of Cd from roots to shoots/grains of six rice cultivars, characterized with different Cd-sensitivities in polluted soil were studied, the selected rice cultivars were Xiangzao 17（R1）, Jiayu 211（R2）, Xiangzao 42（R3）, Zhuliangyou 312（R4）, Zhuliangyou 611（R5）, and Jinyou 463（R6）, respectively. The Cd subcellular distribution and Cd binding characteristics on subcellular fractions of rice root cell wall（CW） were further investigated. The results showed that the rice grain Cd contents varied significantly, with a maximum variation of 47.0% among the cultivars, the largest grain Cd content was observed with cultivar R1（Cd-sensitivity cultivar） and the smallest with R5（Cd-tolerance cultivar）. The translocation factors of Cd from roots to shoots（TF_（shoot）） and roots to grains（TF_（grain）） varied greatly among the cultivars. In general, the TFgrain of the cultivars followed the order of R1〉R2〉R3〉R4〉 R6-R5. The Cd concentration（mg kg^（–1） FW） in the fraction of root CW, the fraction of cell wall removing pectin（CW-P） and the fraction of cell wall removing pectin and hemicellulose（CW-P-HC） of the cultivars generally followed the order of CW-P〉CW〉CWP-HC; the ratios of Cd concentration（mg kg–1 FW） in the fraction of CW-P to that of CW were mostly more than 1.10, while the ratios of Cd concentration in the fraction of CW-P-HC to that of CW were mostly less than 0.60, indicating that Cd was mainly stored in the hemicellulose of the root CW. The ratios of Cd of CW-P-HC to CW generally followed the descending order of R1~R2〉R3〉R4〉R5~R6 for the cultivars, which implied that hemicellulose is probably the main subcellular pool for transferring Cd into rice grain, and it restrains the translocation of Cd from shoot to the grain, especially for the Cd-tolerance cultivars（R5 and R6）, the compartmentation of more Cd in hemicellulose in root CW is probably one of the main mechanisms for Cd tolerance of rice cultivars.

Root cell walls and phytochelatins in low-cadmium cultivar of Brassica parachinensis

‘Lvbao-701’ is a cultivar of Chinese flowering cabbage(Brassica parachinensis) that exhibits low cadmium(Cd) accumulation and high Cd tolerance.In this study, this cultivar was compared with a high-Cd accumulating cultivar, ‘Chixin-4’, to characterize the mechanisms influencing Cd accumulation in B. parachinensis. Root cell walls were isolated by dissolving the cytoplasm with an organic solvent, and root Cd and phytochelatin(PC) contents were analyzed. In addition, a PC synthase gene fragment was cloned and expressed under Cd stress conditions. The proportions of Cd bound to root cell walls were higher in the ‘Lvbao-701’ plants(68.32%–76.80%) than in the ‘Chixin-4’ plants(35.36%–54.18%) after exposure to Cd stress. The proportions of Cd bound to root cell walls measured using cell walls isolated with a non-destructive method were higher than those obtained using a conventional method that required grinding and centrifugation. Exposure to Cd stress induced the PC production and resulted in higher PC contents in the ‘Lvbao-701’ plants than in the ‘Chixin-4’ plants. Cloning and expression analysis of a B. parachinensis PC synthase cDNA fragment indicated that PC synthase gene expression was induced by Cd and occurred mainly in the roots of both ‘Lvbao-701’ and ‘Chixin-4’ plants. However, the PC synthase gene expression level was higher in the‘Lvbao-701’ roots than in the ‘Chixin-4’ roots. Therefore, a higher abundance of Cd in the root cell walls of ‘Lvbao-701’ and up-regulated PC production in the roots are probably the main reasons why ‘Lvbao-701’ exhibits lower Cd translocation to the shoots and higher tolerance to Cd than ‘Chixin-4’.