(800-92) Transcriptomics Study Reveals molecular Insights into the Role of Arsenic-Related F-Box Gene in Regulating Oxidative Stress Response in Heavy Metal Exposure: A Comparison of Arsenic and Cadmium Stress
postdoctoral fellow west virginia state university dunbar, West Virginia
Body of Abstract: Arsenic (As), an indestructible pollutant, is acute toxic to living organisms in its inorganic form. As adversely affects the plant growth and development, predominantly by inducing oxidative stress through redox imbalance. Our previous transcriptomic study elucidated the Arabidopsis F-box gene AT2G16220 (Arsenic Stress-Related F-box (ARF) is essential for retaining phosphate and cellular- homeostasis under excess AsV. Further analysis with overexpressed Arabidopsis lines revealed that the arsenic-related F-box (ARF) gene has been shown to play a vital role in the response to oxidative stress induced by arsenic exposure. Physiological, phenotypic and molecular responses, upon As exposure, Arabidopsis overexpressed lines revealed significantly reduced ROS, proline content, considerable enhanced shoot, root and biomass respectively. Cadmium is another heavy metal that can induce oxidative stress and cellular damage. Our recent study also extended to investigate the role of ASRF gene against to cadmium stress and it has also shown improved root, shoot and biomass in overexpressed lines. Hitherto we anticipated to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism by transcriptome analysis of Col-0, F-Box mutant and overexpressed lines. Transcriptome analysis revealed significantly upregulated ASFR gene to mitigate the phosphorus imbalance, where As is majorly involved. Upon As and Cd exposure they are responding to control the cellular damage by differents pathway. Our study has found that ARF is highly upregulated in response to As and cadmium exposure and may play a crucial role in the regulation of oxidative stress in addition to its role in arsenic-induced stress.