Effect of As on Chlorophyll and Protein Contents and enzymic Activities in Greening Maize Tissues

Arsenic is known to have several phytotoxic effects and one of them is the reduction in chlorophyll content. Determination of chlorophyll content is often accomplished to assess the impact of most environmental stresses, as the pigment content is linked to the visual symptoms and photosynthetic plant productivity. Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of As on chlorophyll synthesis with a view to gain some insights into the possible mechanism. Supply of 0.01 to 1.00 mM Na arsenate to the greening maize leaf segments decreased the chlorophyll content as well as chlorophyllase activity, but decline in former was more pronounced than latter at high concentration of As. Supply of arsenate also reduced total RNA, protein and acid soluble thiol content of the tissue. The inhibitory effect of As was less pronounced in the beginning i.e. upto 4 h, but became substantial with increasing time periods. Nitrate reductase activity was inhibited more strongly than chlorophyll formation and was induced only slightly by the supply of inorganic nitrogen in the presence of As. Inclusion of KNO₃ had almost no effect on inhibitory effect of As on chlorophyll formation, while NH₄Cl and NH₄NO₃ substantiated it. Percent decrease in chlorophyll content was reduced by 2-Oxoglutarate, glutamine, glycine and Na succinate, but it was increased by MgCl₂ and remained unaltered by glutamate. Amongst the thio compounds tested, cysteine and 5,5′ dithio bis 2 nitro benzoic acid could overcome the toxic effect of As partially, while mercaptoethanol and dithiothreitol enhanced it and reduced glutathione had no effect. It is suggested that toxic effect of As on chlorophyll biosynthesis involves limited availability of δ-aminolevulinic acid and thiol modulation of proteins.