| Abstrakt: |
The detrimental impacts of nickel (Ni) pollution on human health and plant growth are irrefutable. Taurine (TRN) is a sulfur-containing non-proteinogenic amino acid with potent antioxidant and cellular membrane protection properties, alongside the capacity to regulate plant defense responses under stress conditions. However, the potential remedial role of TRN on Ni-induced phytotoxic effects is unexplored. Consequently, this study employed bottle gourd (Lagenaria sicerariaL.), a globally important vegetable crop, as a model plant to examine the interactive effects of Ni stress and TRN on growth, secondary metabolism, osmolytes accumulation, ascorbate (ASA) and glutathione (GSH) pool, methylglyoxal, and ROS detoxification system. A pot experiment was conducted in a fully randomized design with four replicates of each treatment. Nickel stress (100 and 150 µM) was applied to the 20-day plants as nickel chloride (NiCl2). After one week of stress administration, TRN (100 and 200 mg L−1) was applied as a foliar application. Plants were harvested scrupulously to record data 10 days after TRN supplementation. The results revealed a discernible reduction in growth, biomass production, photosynthetic pigments, leaf relative water content, DPPH free radical scavenging activity, total soluble proteins, and nitrate reductase activity under Ni stress. Further, Ni stress exacerbated oxidative stress, as indicated by a significant surge in superoxide radicals (O2•‾), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA), and membrane electrolyte leakage (EL), alongside methylglyoxal (MG) and Ni accumulation. However, exogenous TRN shielded bottle gourd plants from Ni-induced oxidative insult, primarily by boosting the antioxidant and glyoxalase systems that helped assuage ROS and MG, respectively. Moreover, TRN ascended plant resilience to Ni stress by improving ASA and GSH pool, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), osmolytes (proline and glycine betaine), antioxidant pigments, and secondary metabolism with a concomitant decrease in leaf and root excess Ni buildup. Taurine lessened Ni phytotoxic effects by augmenting plant architecture, ASA-GSH pools, osmolytes accumulation, antioxidative and glyoxalase systems with concurrent fall in oxidative stress, and excess Ni accumulation in plant tissues. |
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