Lead stress effects on physiobiochemical activities of higher plants

Lead is a metallic pollutant emanating from various environmental sources including industrial wastes, combustion of fossil fuels, and use of agrochemicals. Lead may exist in the atmosphere as dusts, fumes, mists, and vapors, and in soil as a mineral. Soils along roadsides are rich in lead because vehicles burn leaded gasoline, which contributes to environmental lead pollution. Other important sources of lead pollution are geological weathering, industrial processing of ores and minerals, leaching of lead from solid wastes, and animal and human excreta. Lead is nondegradable, readily enters the food chain, and can subsequently endanger human and animal health. Lead is one of the most important environment pollutants and deserves the increasing attention it has received in recent decades. The present effort was undertaken to review lead stress effects on the physiobiochemical activity of higher plants. Lead has gained considerable attention as a potent heavy metal pollutant because of growing anthropogenic pressure on the environment. Lead-contaminated soils show a sharp decline in crop productivity. Lead is absorbed by plants mainly through the root system and in minor amounts through the leaves. Within the plants, lead accumulates primarily in roots, but some is translocated to aerial plant parts. Soil pH, soil particle size, cation-exchange capacity, as well as root surface area, root exudation, and mycorrhizal transpiration rate affect the availability and uptake of lead by plants. Only a limited amount of lead is translocated from roots to other organs because there are natural plant barriers in the root endodermis. At lethal concentrations, this barrier is broken and lead may enter vascular tissues. Lead in plants may form deposits of various sizes, present mainly in intercellular spaces, cell walls, and vacuoles. Small deposits of this metal are also seen in the endoplasmic reticulum, dictyosome, and dictyosome-derived vesicles. After entering the cells, lead inhibits activities of many enzymes, upsets mineral nutrition and water balance, changes the hormonal status, and affects membrane structure and permeability. Visual, nonspecific symptoms of lead toxicity are stunted growth, chlorosis, and blackening of the root system. In most cases, lead inhibition of enzyme activities results from the interaction of the metal with enzyme -SH groups. The activities of metalloenzymes may decline as a consequence of displacement of an essential metal by lead from the active sites of the enzymes. Lead decreases the photosynthetic rate of plants by distorting chloroplast ultrastructure, diminishing chlorophyll synthesis, obstructing electron transport, and inhibiting activities of Calvin cycle enzymes.