Cadmium uptake and transport processes in rice revealed by stable isotope fractionation and Cd-related gene expression

Multiple processes are involved in Cd transfer in rice plants, including root uptake, xylem loading, and immobilization. These processes can be mediated by membrane transporters and can alter Cd speciation by binding Cd to different organic ligands. However, it remains unclear which processes control Cd transport in rice in response to different watering conditions in soil. Herein, Cd isotope fractionation and Cd-related gene expression were employed to investigate the key regulatory mechanisms during uptake, root-to-shoot, and stem-to-leaf transport of Cd in rice grown in pot experiments with Cd-contaminated soil under flooded and non-flooded conditions, respectively. The results showed that soil flooding decreased the Cd concentration in soil porewater and, thereby, Cd uptake and transport in rice. Cd isotopes fractionated negatively from soil porewater to the whole rice (flooded: ∆114/110Cdrice-porewater = -0.15‰, non-flooded: ∆114/110Cdrice-porewater = -0.39‰), suggesting that Cd transporters preferentially absorbed light Cd isotopes. The non-flooded treatment revealed an upregulated expression of OsNRAMP1 and OsNRAMP5 genes compared to the flooded treatment, which may partially contribute to its more pronounced porewater-to-rice fractionation. Cd isotopes fractionated positively from roots to shoots under flooded conditions (∆114/110Cdshoot-root = 0.19‰). However, a reverse direction of fractionation was observed under non-flooded conditions (∆114/110Cdshoot-root = -0.67‰), which was associated with the substantial upregulation of CAL1 in roots, facilitating xylem loading of Cd-CAL1 complexes with lighter isotopes. After being transported to the shoots, the majority of Cd were detained in stems (44%-55%), which were strongly enriched in lighter isotopes than in the leaves (∆114/110Cdleaf-stem = 0.77 to 1.01‰). Besides the Cd-CAL1 transported from the roots, the expression of OsPCS1 and OsHMA3 in the stems could also favor the enrichment of Cd-PCs with lighter isotopes, leaving heavier isotopes to be transported to the leaves. The higher expression levels of OsMT1e in older leaves than in younger leaves implied that Cd immobilization via binding to metallothioneins like OsMT1e may favor the enrichment of lighter isotopes in older leaves. The non-flooded treatment showed lighter Cd isotopes in younger leaves than the flooded treatment, suggesting that more Cd-CAL1 in the stems and Cd-PCs in the older leaves might be transported to the younger leaves under non-flooded conditions. Our results demonstrate that isotopically light Cd can be preferentially transported from roots to shoots when more Cd is absorbed by rice under non-flooded conditions, and isotope fractionation signature together with gene expression quantification has the potential to provide a better understanding of the key processes regulating Cd transfer in rice.