title: Concentration-dependent alterations in gene expression induced by cadmium in Solanum lycopersicum.
abstract: Cadmium (Cd) toxicity in agricultural soil has received significant attention because of its higher transformation in the food chain and toxicity to humans. The aim of the present study was to develop sensitive and specific biomarkers for Cd stress. Therefore, transcriptional analyses were performed to investigate concentration-response characteristics of Cd responsive genes identified from a Solanum lycopersicum microarray. The results showed that the lowest observable adverse effect concentrations (LOAECs) of Cd to S. lycopersicum were 1 mg/kg for seed germination, 8 mg/kg for root dry weight, 8 mg/kg for root elongation, and 8 mg/kg for root morphology. Furthermore, the genes were differentially expressed even at the lowest Cd concentrations (0.5 mg/kg), indicating that the detection of Cd in soil at the molecular level is a highly sensitive method. Cd in soil was positively correlated with the expression of the F-box protein PP2-B15 (r = 0.809, p < 0.01) and zinc transporter 4 (r = 0.643, p < 0.01), indicating that these two genes could be selected as indicators of soil Cd contamination.
authors.affiliation: School of Environment And Chemical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China. xhliu@bnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xinhui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Baoshan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Junhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: School of Environment And Chemical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China. xkwang@ncepu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiangke
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000187:drug effects*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000378:metabolism; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002104:Cadmium
keywords: Biomarker; Cadmium stress; Concentration dependent; Microarray; Solanum lycopersicum