Accumulation, physiological and proteomic analyses of Suaeda salsa under cadmium exposure

Suaeda salsa, the dominant herbaceous plant in the high salinity areas of Asia, can even grow in the heavy metal polluted region. In order to illustrate the mechanisms of Cd (cadmium) tolerance in S. salsa, the accumulation, physiological and proteomic characters under two different concentrations of Cd exposure were investigated in this study. The results showed a significant decrease in root and seedling growth rate, as well as an increase in Cd ion content in all tissues of S. salsa, in response to the increased Cd concentration. Furthermore, it was found that Cd was mainly accumulated in the root compared with the stem and leaf. Further proteomic analysis revealed that in the root of S. salsa under 7-d Cd exposure, 260 and 237 proteins were significantly upregulated in 1 μg/L and 20 μg/L Cd treatment groups, respectively. In addition, Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis showed that cellulose synthase with the function of cell wall organization was upregulated under Cd stress. Moreover, the proteins functioning as the transporters of iron (ATP-binding cassettes protein, metal tolerance proteins, yellow-stripe-like proteins) and organic compounds (oligopeptide transporters, phosphate transporters) were also highly expressed, which indicated that the accumulation of Cd in the root of S. salsa may be mainly regulated through Cd immobilization by the cell wall or transportation into vacuoles. These findings enhance our understanding of the impacts of Cd pollution in S. salsa and may form a basis for future phytoremediation and biomarker studies.