Iron deficiency response genes induced by cadmium
-Difference of expression pattern between tobacco and Athyrium yokoscense-

Abstract

The mechanism of heavy metal tolerance and accumulation is not clear though many tolerant plants have been reported. The heavy metal tolerant mechanism must be different among these plants because they accumulate heavy metals in their different tissues. It is known that Cd treatment leads to iron deficiency in tobacco plants, indicating iron transporters are involved in the Cd tolerance of plants. In this communication, we investigated the expression pattern of three metal transporter genes: IRT, YSL and Nramp in Athyrium yokoscense, known as a metal hyper accumulator by comparison with those in tobacco plants. The expression of YSL in tobacco plants increased following Cd treatment and Nramp was expressed in plants grown on a medium containing Cd and no iron. However, there was no significant change of the expression of these genes in A.yokoscense irrespective of whether Cd and iron were present or not in a medium.