Targeting aquaporins to alleviate hazardous metal(loid)s imposed stress in plants

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials 2021-04, Vol.408, p.124910-124910, Article 124910
• Main Authors: Vats, Sanskriti, Sudhakaran, Sreeja, Bhardwaj, Anupriya, Mandlik, Rushil, Sharma, Yogesh, Kumar, Sudhir, Tripathi, Durgesh Kumar, Sonah, Humira, Sharma, Tilak Raj, Deshmukh, Rupesh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquaporins; Heavy metals; Heterologous expression; Plant-water relations; Stress; Tolerance
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124910

Uptake of hazardous metal(loid)s adversely affects plants and imposes a threat to the entire food chain. Here, the role of aquaporins (AQPs) providing tolerance against hazardous metal(loid)s in plants is discussed to provide a perspective on the present understanding, knowledge gaps, and opportunities. Plants adopt complex molecular and physiological mechanisms for better tolerance, adaptability, and survival under metal(loid)s stress. Water conservation in plants is one such primary strategies regulated by AQPs, a family of channel-forming proteins facilitating the transport of water and many other solutes. The strategy is more evident with reports suggesting differential expression of AQPs adopted by plants to cope with the heavy metal stress. In this regard, numerous studies showing enhanced tolerance against hazardous elements in plants due to AQPs activity are discussed. Consequently, present understanding of various aspects of AQPs, such as tertiary-structure, transport activity, solute-specificity, differential expression, gating mechanism, and subcellular localization, are reviewed. Similarly, various tools and techniques are discussed in detail aiming at efficient utilization of resources and knowledge to combat metal(loid)s stress. The scope of AQP transgenesis focusing on heavy metal stresses is also highlighted. The information provided here will be helpful to design efficient strategies for the development of metal(loid)s stress-tolerant crops. [Display omitted] •Hazardous metals/metalloids stress cause drastic crop losses, food contamination and environmental issues.•Transporter proteins like aquaporins has great role under hazardous metals/metalloids stress.•Recent advancements in analytical tools and technics can be better explore aquaporins to make crop stress tolerant.•Numerous options like transgenic development are available to reduce uptake of hazardous metals/metalloids in plants.