Role of sulfur in combating arsenic stress through upregulation of important proteins, and in-silico analysis to study the interaction between phosphate transporter (PHO1), arsenic and phosphate in spinach

Arsenic Toxicity-Induced Physiological and Metabolic Changes in the Shoots of Pteris cretica and Spinacia oleracea

“…Plants adapt to environmental changes by regulating their development and growth [ 1 ], which leads to decreased plant growth as the first visible symptom of stress [ 30 ]. Arsenic is considered phytotoxic and is expected to have adverse effects on plant growth [ 26 ] that was previously observed for the growth of S. oleracea [ 18 , 30 , 40 , 42 ] and P. cretica [ 28 , 37 ]. Similar to these findings, in our study, shoot and root dry biomass of P. cretica and S. oleracea were also affected by As concentration ( Figure 2 A,B).…”

“…In addition to the important role of S, this element is necessary for plant defence, e.g., for glutathione and phytochelatins [ 49 ]. Sulfur reduced As stress in S. oleracea due to the enhancement of the tolerance mechanism by increasing glutathione, non-protein thiols, and phytochelatins [ 42 ]. In our study, S content increased with As100 treatment in both plant species; however, a higher content was determined in S. oleracea shoots, which may be related to the lower tolerance of S. oleracea .…”

“…The biomass of S. oleracea is rich in nutrients, such as Mg, Mn, P, Cu, Zn, and Fe, as well as Na, K, Ca, and I [ 42 , 50 ]. In our study, the content of Mg, Mn, P, Cu, Zn, and Fe was significantly higher in S. oleracea shoots than in P. cretica shoots in the control ( Table 2 ).…”

“…However, the increase in Glu accumulation in S. oleracea shoots indicated the depletion of assimilated C that is necessary for AA biosynthesis [ 38 ]. Further, results attributed the Glu role to the formation of As conjugates with phytochelatins [ 42 ].…”