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Effects of Cyanobacterial Toxins on Plant Cell
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Effects of Cyanobacterial Toxins on Plant Cell

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Physiology and Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 9008

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Csaba Máthé

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Interests: plant cell; protein phosphatase; oxidative stress; cyanobacterial toxins; microcystins

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the topic “Effects of Cyanobacterial Toxins on the Plant Cell”, proposed for the MDPI journal Plants, has been accepted and that we are now accepting submissions.

Toxic cyanobacterial blooms are caused by the eutrophication of freshwaters and marine waters, partly because of temperature increases due to global warming. These blooms significantly affect aquatic ecosystems as well as agriculturally important crops—the latter being harmed by the contamination of waters used for irrigation. All these phenomena are ultimately influencing human health through food chains.

Cyanobacterial toxins affecting higher plants belong to different classes. The most common are microcystins (MCs, MCY), i.e., heptapeptides with specific and potent inhibitory effects on type 1 and 2A protein phosphatases. These enzymes play crucial roles in eukaryotic signal transduction and cell cycle regulation; their harmful effects on plants are thus exerted primarily at the cellular level. Anatoxins (ANAs) are known primarily as neurotoxins that affect neurotransmission, but surprisingly they are also influencing plant growth and development. An interesting compound is the alkaloid cylindrospermopsin (CYN) that is believed to inhibit eukaryotic protein synthesis, but its molecular effects are still poorly understood.

All these “classical” cyanotoxins as well as newly discovered ones interfere significantly with cellular and subcellular processes that will have consequences in tissue and whole-body structure and functioning. Due to the above reasons, research in this area is of crucial importance. In this topical Special Issue of Plants, both reviews and regular research papers are welcome in the following subtopics:

  • Biochemical effects of cyanotoxins in plants
  • Cyanotoxins’ effects on subcellular structures and processes including cell death
  • Cyanotoxins and hormonal regulation of development in plants
  • Effects at the whole-plant and ecosystem level

We look forward to your contributions to this Special Issue of Plants.

Dr. Csaba Máthé
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant cell
  • cyanotoxin
  • microcystins
  • cylindrospermopsin
  • anatoxin
  • biochemical mechanisms
  • tissue alterations

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 2240 KiB  
Article
Microcystin-LR, a Cyanobacterial Toxin, Induces DNA Strand Breaks Correlated with Changes in Specific Nuclease and Protease Activities in White Mustard (Sinapis alba) Seedlings
by Márta M-Hamvas, Gábor Vasas, Dániel Beyer, Eszter Nagylaki and Csaba Máthé
Plants 2021, 10(10), 2045; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10102045 - 28 Sep 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1721
Abstract
There is increasing evidence for the induction of programmed cell death (PCD) in vascular plants by the cyanobacterial toxin microcystin-LR (MC-LR). Our aim was to detect the occurrence of PCD-related DNA strand breaks and their possible connections to specific nuclease and protease activities. [...] Read more.
There is increasing evidence for the induction of programmed cell death (PCD) in vascular plants by the cyanobacterial toxin microcystin-LR (MC-LR). Our aim was to detect the occurrence of PCD-related DNA strand breaks and their possible connections to specific nuclease and protease activities. DNA breaks were studied by the deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) method in the photoperiodically grown dicot model of white mustard (Sinapis alba). In-gel nuclease and protease activity assays showed changes in the activities of specific isoenzymes during treatments with MC-LR. Strand breaks occurred both in the developing root epidermis and cortex. Several isoenzyme activities were related to these breaks, for example: an increase in the activity of neutral 80–75 kDa, acidic high MW (100–120 kDa) and, most importantly, an increase in the activity of neutral 26–20 kDa nucleases, all of them having single-stranded DNA cleaving (SSP nuclease) activities. Increases in the activities of alkaline proteases in the 61–41 kDa range were also detected and proved to be in relation with MC-LR-induced PCD. This is one of the first pieces of evidence on the correlation of PCD-related DNA strand breaks with specific hydrolase activities in a model dicot treated with a cyanobacterial toxin known to have environmental importance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Cyanobacterial Toxins on Plant Cell)
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Review

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18 pages, 25282 KiB  
Review
Subcellular Alterations Induced by Cyanotoxins in Vascular Plants—A Review
by Csaba Máthé, Márta M-Hamvas, Gábor Vasas, Tamás Garda and Csongor Freytag
Plants 2021, 10(5), 984; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10050984 - 14 May 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2580
Abstract
Phytotoxicity of cyanobacterial toxins has been confirmed at the subcellular level with consequences on whole plant physiological parameters and thus growth and productivity. Most of the data are available for two groups of these toxins: microcystins (MCs) and cylindrospermopsins (CYNs). Thus, in this [...] Read more.
Phytotoxicity of cyanobacterial toxins has been confirmed at the subcellular level with consequences on whole plant physiological parameters and thus growth and productivity. Most of the data are available for two groups of these toxins: microcystins (MCs) and cylindrospermopsins (CYNs). Thus, in this review we present a timely survey of subcellular cyanotoxin effects with the main focus on these two cyanotoxins. We provide comparative insights into how peculiar plant cellular structures are affected. We review structural changes and their physiological consequences induced in the plastid system, peculiar plant cytoskeletal organization and chromatin structure, the plant cell wall, the vacuolar system, and in general, endomembrane structures. The cyanotoxins have characteristic dose-and plant genotype-dependent effects on all these structures. Alterations in chloroplast structure will influence the efficiency of photosynthesis and thus plant productivity. Changing of cell wall composition, disruption of the vacuolar membrane (tonoplast) and cytoskeleton, and alterations of chromatin structure (including DNA strand breaks) can ultimately lead to cell death. Finally, we present an integrated view of subcellular alterations. Knowledge on these changes will certainly contribute to a better understanding of cyanotoxin–plant interactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Cyanobacterial Toxins on Plant Cell)
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20 pages, 679 KiB  
Review
Impacts of Microcystins on Morphological and Physiological Parameters of Agricultural Plants: A Review
by Alexandre Campos, El Mahdi Redouane, Marisa Freitas, Samuel Amaral, Tomé Azevedo, Leticia Loss, Csaba Máthé, Zakaria A. Mohamed, Brahim Oudra and Vitor Vasconcelos
Plants 2021, 10(4), 639; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10040639 - 28 Mar 2021
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4138
Abstract
Cyanobacteria are a group of photosynthetic prokaryotes that pose a great concern in the aquatic environments related to contamination and poisoning of wild life and humans. Some species of cyanobacteria produce potent toxins such as microcystins (MCs), which are extremely aggressive to several [...] Read more.
Cyanobacteria are a group of photosynthetic prokaryotes that pose a great concern in the aquatic environments related to contamination and poisoning of wild life and humans. Some species of cyanobacteria produce potent toxins such as microcystins (MCs), which are extremely aggressive to several organisms, including animals and humans. In order to protect human health and prevent human exposure to this type of organisms and toxins, regulatory limits for MCs in drinking water have been established in most countries. In this regard, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed 1 µg MCs/L as the highest acceptable concentration in drinking water. However, regulatory limits were not defined in waters used in other applications/activities, constituting a potential threat to the environment and to human health. Indeed, water contaminated with MCs or other cyanotoxins is recurrently used in agriculture and for crop and food production. Several deleterious effects of MCs including a decrease in growth, tissue necrosis, inhibition of photosynthesis and metabolic changes have been reported in plants leading to the impairment of crop productivity and economic loss. Studies have also revealed significant accumulation of MCs in edible tissues and plant organs, which raise concerns related to food safety. This work aims to systematize and analyze the information generated by previous scientific studies, namely on the phytotoxicity and the impact of MCs especially on growth, photosynthesis and productivity of agricultural plants. Morphological and physiological parameters of agronomic interest are overviewed in detail in this work, with the aim to evaluate the putative impact of MCs under field conditions. Finally, concentration-dependent effects are highlighted, as these can assist in future guidelines for irrigation waters and establish regulatory limits for MCs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Cyanobacterial Toxins on Plant Cell)
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