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Phytochemical and Gene Expression Reveals the Antioxidant Responses to Copper Ions in Brassica rapa

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Abstract

The toxicity of increasing heavy metal ion in soil has been threatening the food security and environments. In this study, we used Brassica rapa variety Qinggen #1, a leafy and oil vegetable, to investigate the effects of coper ion (Cu2+) on adaptive defense to understand regulatory molecular mechanisms. The variety exhibited a high tolerance at high Cu2+ concentration (200 mg L−1). More increases in superoxide radical, hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde, and proline were observed at higher concentration than low concentrations. Enzyme activities of SOD, GR, CAT, and APX were significantly altered earlier than corresponding expression of coding genes was up-regulated, indicating two distinct regulations at enzyme and gene levels. The CAT activity and expression correlated with the reactive oxygen species levels, indicating a more important role than other enzymes. Taken together, the high tolerance to Cu2+ in B. rapa is resulting from changes in biochemistry, enzyme, and gene expression.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the China National Sciences Foundation (31370601, 31670700, 31000225, and 31100172).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Science, Liaoning University, Shenyang, 110036, China

    Yanan Ruan, Guangsi Ji, Jianshuang Gao, Long Ling & Hongyan Wang

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  1. Yanan Ruan
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  2. Guangsi Ji
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  3. Jianshuang Gao
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  4. Long Ling
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  5. Hongyan Wang
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Contributions

YR and HW designed the experiment. YR, GJ, and LL carried out the field measurements. YR and HW analyzed the data and all authors interpreted the results. YR, GJ, and HW wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hongyan Wang.

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Ruan, Y., Ji, G., Gao, J. et al. Phytochemical and Gene Expression Reveals the Antioxidant Responses to Copper Ions in Brassica rapa. J Plant Growth Regul 39, 313–323 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-019-09983-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-019-09983-0

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