Evaluation of expression of antioxidant genes under mercury metal stress in bread wheat

Document Type : Complete scientific research article

Authors

1 Professor, Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran,

2 PhD student in Plant Genetics and Breeding, Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran.

3 Master's student in Agricultural Biotechnology, Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan,

4 Bachelor's degree student in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract

Background and purpose: Environmental pollution caused by heavy metals due to their indestructibility is a major concern in agricultural soils, which threatens food security. Mercury is considered as a dangerous and carcinogenic pollutant, which in natural ecosystems is increased by human activities and leads to a decrease in protein production, deactivation of some enzymes, disturbance in various reactions and cellular actions, and causes They stop growing and developing. Since the contamination of agricultural lands with heavy metals on one hand leads to a decrease in the quality of agricultural products and on the other hand it is a serious threat to human health, it needs more attention.The demand for global food production will increase, the higher expectations of agricultural production in each residential unit will cause the destruction of existing land, the expansion of agriculture to marginal areas, and the use of different types of soil for the production of more products. Most of these areas and lands are contaminated with a wide range of pollutants, such as heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead, chromium, copper, manganese, and zinc, which account for a major share of the pollution of these soils. they give
Materials and methods: A split-plot experiment was conducted in the form of a completely randomized basic design with three replications in the Faculty of Plant Production of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. The investigated factors include cultivar (at four levels) and foliar spraying treatment (fogging), mercury chloride compound (at 5, 10, 15 micromolar levels) and control treatment, and the application of treatments on leaves in the range of 60 Zadex stage (8 leaves). Done. Then, some biochemical traits and expression of catalase, superoxide dismutase, guaiacol peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase genes were investigated.

Results: The results of analysis of variance showed that the effect of different concentrations of mercury and the cultivar effect on all measured biochemical traits were statistically significant at the 1% probability level, the cultivar effect was significant at the 5% level for chlorophyll a. The interaction effect of mercury in cultivar was significant for all biochemical traits. It was also observed that the expression of ascorbate peroxidase, giagol peroxidase and catalase, superoxide dismutase genes showed higher expression, This increase in expression was different among different cultivars and it was observed more in Morvarid cultivar than other cultivars.

Conclusion: In the results, it was observed that the expression level of ascorbate peroxidase and giagol peroxidase gene was higher in the Morvarid genotype, and a lower decrease in the amount of chlorophyll was also observed in it. On the other hand, the level of cellular oxidation also increased less in this genotype due to the increase in mercury chloride concentration. Based on the results of this research, it can be stated that this genotype is tolerant to mercury chloride stress, which can be used as desirable cultivars in future breeding projects after performing other additional tests.

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References

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Journal of Crop Production
Volume 17, Issue 4
December 2025
Pages 67-84

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