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Glutathione in plants: biosynthesis and physiological role in environmental stress tolerance

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Abstract

Glutathione (GSH; γ-glutamyl-cysteinyl-glycine) is a small intracellular thiol molecule which is considered as a strong non-enzymatic antioxidant. Glutathione regulates multiple metabolic functions; for example, it protects membranes by maintaining the reduced state of both α-tocopherol and zeaxanthin, it prevents the oxidative denaturation of proteins under stress conditions by protecting their thiol groups, and it serves as a substrate for both glutathione peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase. By acting as a precursor of phytochelatins, GSH helps in the chelating of toxic metals/metalloids which are then transported and sequestered in the vacuole. The glyoxalase pathway (consisting of glyoxalase I and glyoxalase II enzymes) for detoxification of methylglyoxal, a cytotoxic molecule, also requires GSH in the first reaction step. For these reasons, much attention has recently been directed to elucidation of the role of this molecule in conferring tolerance to abiotic stress. Recently, this molecule has drawn much attention because of its interaction with other signaling molecules and phytohormones. In this review, we have discussed the recent progress in GSH biosynthesis, metabolism and its role in abiotic stress tolerance.

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Abbreviations

γ-ECS:

γ-Glutamylcysteine synthetase

ABA:

Abscisic acid

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

AsA:

Ascorbate

CAT:

Catalase

Cys:

Cysteine

DHAR:

Dehydroxyascorbate reductase

Glu:

Glutamine

Gly I:

Glyoxalase I (Lactoylglutathione lyase)

Gly II:

Glyoxalase II (Hydroxyacylglutathione hydrolase)

GPX:

Glutathione peroxidase

GR:

Glutathione reductase

GSH:

Glutathione

GSHS:

Glutathione synthase

GSNO:

S-Nitrosoglutathione

GSSG:

Glutathione disulfide

GST:

Glutathione S-transferase

JA:

Jasmonic acid

MAP:

Mitogen activated protein

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

MG:

Methylglyoxal

NADPH:

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate

NO:

Nitric oxide

PC:

Phytochelatin

PCS:

Phytochelatin synthase

POD:

Peroxidase

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

SA:

Salicylic acid

SLG:

S-d-Lactoylglutathione

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Mr. Md. Mahabub Alam and Mr. Jubayer-Al-Mahmud, Laboratory of Plant Stress Responses, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Japan for providing several supporting articles and critical reading of the manuscript draft. Kamrun Nahar is grateful to the Japan Government Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) for financial support.

Author's contribution

MH planned and designed the work, drawn the figures and wrote some parts. KN wrote the paper and constructed the figures. MF contributed critically to the improvement and editing the manuscript. All authors contributed to improving the paper and approved the final manuscript.

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    1. Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, 1207, Bangladesh

      Mirza Hasanuzzaman & Taufika Islam Anee

    2. Laboratory of Plant Stress Responses, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa, 761-0795, Japan

      Kamrun Nahar, Taufika Islam Anee & Masayuki Fujita

    3. Department of Agricultural Botany, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, 1207, Bangladesh

      Kamrun Nahar

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    1. Mirza Hasanuzzaman
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    Correspondence to Masayuki Fujita.

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    Mirza Hasanuzzaman and Kamrun Nahar have contributed equally to this work.

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    Hasanuzzaman, M., Nahar, K., Anee, T.I. et al. Glutathione in plants: biosynthesis and physiological role in environmental stress tolerance. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 23, 249–268 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-017-0422-2

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