Convergent patterns of tissue-level distribution of elements in different tropical woody nickel hyperaccumulator species from Borneo Island. Issue 6 (13th November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Abubakari, Farida; Mesjasz-Przybyłowicz, Jolanta; Przybyłowicz, Wojciech J; van der Ent, Antony
• Editors: Rajakaruna, Nishanta
• Is Part Of: AoB plants. Volume 12:Issue 6(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-11-13
• Subjects: Elemental distribution -- elemental maps -- hyperaccumulator -- micro-PIXE -- nuclear microprobe -- X-ray microanalysis; Plants -- Periodicals; Botany -- Periodicals; 580.5
• DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaa058
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-2851

Abstract

Abstract: The Malaysian state of Sabah on the Island of Borneo has recently emerged as a global hotspot of nickel hyperaccumulator plants. This study focuses on the tissue-level distribution of nickel and other physiologically relevant elements in hyperaccumulator plants with distinct phylogenetical affinities. The roots, old stems, young stems and leaves of Flacourtia kinabaluensis (Salicaceae), Actephila alanbakeri (Phyllanthaceae), Psychotria sarmentosa (Rubiaceae) and young stems and leaves of Glochidion brunneum (Phyllanthaceae) were studied using nuclear microprobe (micro-PIXE and micro-BS) analysis. The tissue-level distribution of nickel found in these species has the same overall pattern as in most other hyperaccumulator plants studied previously, with substantial enrichment in the epidermal cells and in the phloem. This study also revealed enrichment of potassium in the spongy and palisade mesophyll of the studied species. Calcium, chlorine, manganese and cobalt were found to be enriched in the phloem and also concentrated in the epidermis and cortex of the studied species. Although hyperaccumulation ostensibly evolved numerous times independently, the basic mechanisms inferred from tissue elemental localization are convergent in these tropical woody species from Borneo Island. Abstract : Hyperaccumulators are rare plants that accumulate trace elements to extreme concentrations in their living shoots. This study focuses on the tissue-level distribution of nickel and other physiologically relevant elements in four different nickel hyperaccumulator plants from the Malaysian state of Sabah on the Island of Borneo. Even though nickel hyperaccumulation has ostensibly evolved numerous times independently in distant phylogenetic lineages in different areas around the world, the physiological mechanisms, as inferred from elemental localization, are convergent in the tropical woody species that were studied from Borneo Island.