Water Management Alters Cadmium Isotope Fractionation between Shoots and Nodes/Leaves in a Soil-Rice System

The drainage of rice soils increases Cd solubility and results in high Cd concentrations in rice grains. However, plant Cd uptake is limited by sorption to iron plaques, and Cd redistribution in the plant is regulated by the nodes. To better understand the interplay of Cd uptake and redistribution in rice under drained and flooded conditions, we determined stable Cd isotope ratios and the expression of genes coding transporters that can transport Cd into the plant cells in a pot experiment. In soil, both water management practices showed similar patterns of isotope variation: the soil solution was enriched in heavy isotopes, and the root Fe plaque was enriched in light isotopes. In rice, the leaves were heavier (Δ114/110Cdleaf-shoot = 0.17 to 0.96‰) and the nodes were moderately lighter (Δ114/110Cdnode-shoot = −0.26 to 0.00‰) relative to the shoots under flooded conditions, indicating preferential retention of light isotopes in nodes and export of heavy isotopes toward leaves. This is generally reversed under drained conditions (Δ114/110Cdleaf-shoot = −0.25 to −0.04‰, Δ114/110Cdnode-shoot = 0.10 to 0.19‰). The drained treatment resulted in significantly higher expression of OsHMA2 and OsLCT1 (phloem loading) but lower expression of OsHMA3 (vacuolar sequestration) in nodes and flag leaves relative to the flooded treatment. It appeared that OsHMA2 and OsLCT1 might preferentially transport isotopically heavier Cd, and the excess Cd was purposefully retranslocated via the phloem under drained conditions when the vacuoles could not retain more Cd. Cd in seeds was isotopically heavier than that in stems under both water management practices, indicating that heavy isotopes were preferentially transferred toward seeds via the phloem, leaving light isotopes retained in stems. These findings demonstrate that the Fe plaque preferentially adsorbs and occludes light Cd isotopes on the root surface, and distinct water management practices alter the gene expression of key transporters in the nodes, which corresponds to a change in isotope fractionation between shoots and nodes/leaves.