Effect of Sugars on Aluminum-Induced Cell Death in Tomato Suspension Cells

Abstract

Aluminum ions (Al³⁺) are very toxic to plants, and number of studies documented the toxic impact of Al³⁺ on roots. It has been proposed that Al³⁺-induced reactive oxygen species generation triggered cell death using tobacco cells. On the other hand, the protective effect of sugar such as trehalose under oxidative conditions was suggested in yeast. In this study, we report the effect of sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose and trehalose) on Al³⁺-induced cell death and superoxide (O₂^-) generation in tomato cell suspension culture. Addition of sugars inhibited the cell death induced by low concentration of Al³⁺. In high concentration of Al³⁺, trehalose indidated higher ability of inhibition of Al³⁺-induced cell death and O₂^- generation than other sugars. These results suggest that trehalose reduced Al³⁺-induced cell death due to preserving from Al³⁺-induced oxidative condition.