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Metal tolerance proteins (MTPs) are divalent cation transporters, known to upkeep the mineral nutrition of plants and heavy metal transport at cell, tissue, or whole plant levels. However, information related to evolutionary relationships and biological functions of MTP genes in strawberry (Fragaria vesca L.) remain elusive. Herein, we identified 12 MTP genes from the strawberry genome and divided them into three main groups (i.e., Zn-MTP, Fe/Zn MTP, and Mn-MTP), which is similar to MTP grouping in Arabidopsis and rice. The strawberry MTPs (FvMTPs) are predicted to be localized in the vacuole, while open reading frame (ORF) length ranged from 1113 to 2589 bp with 370 to 862 amino acids, and possess 4 to 6 transmembrane domains (TMDs), except for FvMTP12 that possessed 16 TMDs. All the FvMTP genes had putative cation efflux and cation diffusion facilitator domains along with a zinc dimerization (ZT-dimer) domain in Mn-MTPs. The collinear analysis suggested their conservation between strawberry and Arabidopsis MTPs. Promoter analysis also demonstrated that some of them might possibly be regulated by hormones and abiotic stress factors. Moreover, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis proposed that FvMTP genes are involved in cation transport and homeostasis. The expression analysis showed that FvMTP1, FvMTP1.1, and FvMTP4 were significantly induced in leaf samples, while FvMTP1.1 and FvMTP4 were significantly regulated in roots of cadmium (Cd)-treated strawberry plants during progressive stress duration. The findings of Cd accumulation depicted that Cd contents were significantly higher in root tissues than that of leaf tissues of strawberry. These results are indicative of their response during the specific duration in Cd detoxification, while further functional studies can accurately verify their specific role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium (Se) is a naturally occurring substance that is toxic at high concentration for all life forms. It enters into environment through natural and anthropogenic sources. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to study the effect of foliar application of salicylic acid (SA) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) on maize growing in selenium contaminated soil. Salicylic acid and sodium nitroprusside are important growth controller molecules which regulate physiological functions in plants and protect plants from environmental stresses. Two maize varieties (Pioneer 33H15 and Cargill 6142) were used in this experiment. Two concentrations of SA and SNP (50µM and 100µM) were used as a foliar spray and selenium was applied @ 20 mg kg-1. Results showed that selenium stress caused a reduction in plant growth, chlorophyll content, gas exchange parameters and activities of enzymes such as SOD, POD and CAT. Though, foliar application of SA and SNP considerably reduces the negative impacts of selenium by enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes as they play an important role in modulating the cell redox balance, thereby protecting plants against oxidative damage. There was significant improvement in membrane stability index (68.33%), relative water contents (78.47%) along with increase in activities of SOD (23%), POD (16.37%) and CAT (70%) in Pioneer 33H15 where SA was applied @ 100µM. These results suggested that foliar application of SA might be more useful for improving maize growth by alleviating harmful effects of Se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of treated and untreated waste water on morphological characteristics of four widely cultivated fragrant Rosa species of Pakistan during 2012-2013. Experiment was designed according to randomized complete block design with two factor factorial arrangement. One treatment factor was Rosa species and other was irrigation source. All minerals and chemicals present in canal water and treated waste water were in permissible level, whereas untreated waste water contained higher values of EC, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and heavy metals like Cd, Co, Cu, Pb. Results showed that maximum plant height and number of leaves per branch was recorded in R. bourboniana and R. damascena respectively under treated waste water and minimum height was found in R. centifolia under untreated waste water whereas highest leaf area was recorded in R. damascena under canal water and treated waste water during 1st and 2nd year of experiment respectively. R. Gruss-an-Teplitz was dominant species for floral characteristics like minimum days to flower emergence, flower diameter, number of flowers plant-1 and number of petals flower-1 under treated waste water whereas thickest flower bud was recorded under untreated waste water. Due to high load of contaminants, untreated waste water was responsible to produced minimum flower numbers in all species. In present study, R. Gruss-an-Teplitz was found to be most resistant and suitable rose species to cultivate in peri-urban areas under treated and untreated waste water and it is strongly recommended that untreated waste water must be treated to some extent before application to roses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and the consequent alteration in agricultural circumstances enhance the susceptibility of fresh water use particularly in water-scarce regions. Marginal quality water reuse is a common alternative practice but possible perils of metal accretion in plant parts are mostly ignored. The present research aimed to probe the impact of treated wastewater (TWW) and untreated wastewater (UTWW) on metal accumulation in flower petals and their influence on essential oil contents of fragrant Rosa species (R. Gruss-an-teplitz, R. bourboniana, R. centifolia , R. damascena) in a peri-urban area of Faisalabad, Pakistan during January, 2017 to December, 2018. The mineral and chemical contents in canal water (CW) and TWW were less than recommended levels of national environmental quality standards (NEQS) for wastewater of Pakistan. The experimentally UTWW possessed higher electrical conductivity (EC), biological and chemical oxygen demand (BOD and COD), and some metals (Pb, Co, Cr) that were above the permissible levels. The experimental data revealed that except Cr other metals contents in the flower petals were less than the WHO recommended limits (for medicinal plants) under experimental irrigation regimes. Rosa centifolia and R. damascena possessed higher metal i.e. Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr, Co contents while Fe and Ni contents were higher in R. Gruss-an-Teplitz and R. bourboniana respectively. There were twelve constituents which were detected in essential oil by gas chromatography. Major constituents were phenyl ethyl alcohol, citronellol, geranyl acetate, γ- undelactone, methyl eugenol, and limonene whose share was 48.17%, 41.11%, 8.46%, 4.82%, 4.44%, and 4.15% respectively whereas concentrations of other 06 constituents were less than 3.7%. Phenyl ethyl alcohol, lion shared constituent of essential oil was found highest (48.17%) in R. Gruss-an-Teplitz whereas minimum level was recorded in R. damascena (28.84%) under CW. In contrast, citronellol (chief component of fragrance) was highest in R. damascena (41.11%) in UTWW while the lowest level was found in R. Gruss-an-Teplitz (17.41%) in CW. This study confirmed the variations in metal concentrations of Rosa species due to different absorbability of each metal in flower petals. It also indicates that wastewater did not affect the composition but there were quantitative differences in aroma constituents and chemical composition of essential oil. • To save fresh water resources, wastewater is viable option to irrigate oil bearing plants. • Scented Rosa species contained metals in acceptable range in flower petals. • Phenyl ethyl alcohol has lion share among 12 constituents detected in rose oil. • Wastewater did not affect oil composition and recommended to irrigate for rose species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]