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Root secretion of oxalic and malic acids mitigates the rubber tree aluminum toxicity

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Abstract

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is a major constraint for crop growth and production in tropical acidic soils, and organic acids (OAs) play a critical role in mitigating Al toxicity. However, the types of OAs secreted and Al tolerance varies across plants. To better understand the mechanisms that rubber trees use to mitigate Al toxicity, Reyan7-33-97 rubber tree tissue culture saplings were treated with different concentrations of AlCl3 to investigate the secretion of OAs under Al stress, along with the mitigation effects of exogenous OA application. The results showed that the pH value of root exudates was significantly decreased in response to the increase of Al concentration and duration, which resulted in 1.19–2.49 fold increases to total OA levels, particularly oxalic acid as its content was considerately higher than other OAs. When OAs, such as oxalic and malic acids were exogenously applied to Al treatment solutions, the rubber tree chlorophyll content, leaf relative water content and root activity were increased significantly, whereas the Al content in roots and leaves, antioxidant enzyme activities (POD, SOD), MDA and free proline contents decreased significantly in comparison with the Al treatment alone. Oxalic acid was found to be superior to malic acid in alleviating Al toxicity. Taken together, our results demonstrate that root secretion of OAs, particularly oxalic acid, under Al stress is a mechanism for rubber tree Al detoxification.

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Abbreviations

Al:

Aluminum

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatographic system

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

TBA:

Thiobarbituric acid

TTC:

2, 3, 5-Triphenylte-trazolium chloride

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

POD:

Peroxidase

RWC:

Relative water content

Chl:

Chlorophyll

OAs:

Organic acids

LLOQ:

Lower limit of quantification

ULOQ:

Upper limit of quantification

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funds from the Hainan Provincial Basic and Applied-basic Research Program (Natural Science) for High-level Talents (2019RC326), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31670633), the Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-33), and the Innovation Research Fund for Hainan Provincial Graduate Student (Hys2020-139).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rubber Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Danzhou Investigation and Experiment Station of Tropical Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Danzhou, 571737, Hainan, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaowei Ma, Zhao Liu, Guishui Xie & Feng An

  2. College of Tropical Crops, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, Hainan, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaowei Ma & Zifan Liu

  3. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, 3216, Australia

    James Rookes

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  1. Xiaowei Ma
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  2. Zifan Liu
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  3. Zhao Liu
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  4. Guishui Xie
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  5. James Rookes
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  6. Feng An
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Contributions

FA, JR and GX conceived the research, XM and FA designed the experimental procedures; XM conducted the experiment; XM and FA wrote the original manuscript; FA, ZL, ZL, JR and GX revised the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zifan Liu or Feng An.

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Ma, X., Liu, Z., Liu, Z. et al. Root secretion of oxalic and malic acids mitigates the rubber tree aluminum toxicity. J Rubber Res 24, 381–390 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42464-021-00105-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42464-021-00105-8

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