title: Protective effects of proline against cadmium toxicity in micropropagated hyperaccumulator, Solanum nigrum L.
abstract: Solanum nigrum is a newly discovered Cd-hyperaccumulator. In the present study, the protective effects of proline against cadmium toxicity of callus and regenerated shoots of S. nigrum are investigated based on a high frequency in vitro shoot regeneration system. Proline pretreatment reduces the reactive oxygen species levels and protects the plasma membrane integrity of callus under cadmium stress, and therefore improves the cadmium tolerance in S. nigrum. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy analysis shows that exogenous proline increases the cadmium accumulation in callus and regenerated shoots of S. nigrum. Further analysis indicates that the improvement of cadmium tolerance caused by proline pretreatment is correlated with an increase of superoxide dismutase and catalase activity and intracellular total glutathione content. The interaction between proline and enzymic or non-enzymic antioxidants is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, People's Republic of China. xujin@sjziam.ac.cn
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: HengXia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D002104:Cadmium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity*; D002374:Catalase / Q000378:metabolism; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D011392:Proline / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D032324:Solanum nigrum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D002104:Cadmium; D011392:Proline; D002374:Catalase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D005978:Glutathione