ABSTRACT

Cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) in agricultural soils is becoming a serious threat in tomato. The complete removal of these heavy metals (HMs) from contaminated soil is challenging. However, the use of plant endophytes might be beneficial. The pragmatic role of endophytic fungi Aspergillus flavus (Ch-01) in tomato under Cd and Cr stress was, therefore, investigated. A. flavus enhanced growth attributes in tomato seedlings under Cd and Cr stress. Besides, it remediated Cd and Cr toxicity by reducing their translocation from the roots to the upper part of the tomato plants. In fact, A. flavus associated plants developed tolerance against Cd and Cr toxicity via the expression of SlGSH1 and SlPCS1 genes. Both genes helped in metal chelation and mitigation of Cd and Cr toxicity. From the results, it is concluded that A. flavus is a plant growth promoting and HMs alleviating endophyte, hence it might be used as a biofertilizer.

摘要

农业土壤中的镉（Cd）和铬（Cr）正成为番茄的严重威胁。从受污染的土壤中完全清除这些重金属（HMs）具有挑战性。但是，使用植物内生菌可能是有益的。因此，研究了内生真菌黄曲霉（Ch-01）在Cd和Cr胁迫下在番茄中的实用作用。黄曲霉增强了镉和铬胁迫下番茄幼苗的生长特性。此外，它通过减少番茄从根部到上部的易位性来缓解镉和铬的毒性。实际上，黄曲霉相关植物通过表达SlGSH1和SlPCS1产生了对Cd和Cr毒性的耐受性基因。这两个基因都有助于金属螯合和减轻Cd和Cr毒性。从结果可以得出结论，黄曲霉是一种促进植物生长和HMs缓解内生菌的植物，因此可以用作生物肥料。