Subcellular Cd accumulation characteristic in root cell wall of rice cultivars with different sensitivities to Cd stress in soil

The variations of grain cadmiun (Cd) concentrations, translocation factors (TFs) of Cd from roots to shoots/grains of six rice cultivars, characterized with different Cd-sensitivities in polluted soil were studied, the selected rice cultivars were Xiangzao 17 (R1), Jiayu 211 (R2), Xiangzao 42 (R3), Zhuliangyou 312 (R4), Zhuliangyou 611 (R5), and Jinyou 463 (R6), respectively. The Cd subcellular distribution and Cd binding characteristics on subcellular fractions of rice root cell wall (CW) were further investigated. The results showed that the rice grain Cd contents varied significantly, with a maximum variation of 47.0% among the cultivars, the largest grain Cd content was observed with cultivar R1 (Cd-sensitivity cultivar) and the smallest with R5 (Cd-tolerance cultivar). The translocation factors of Cd from roots to shoots (TFshoot) and roots to grains (TFgrain) varied greatly among the cultivars. In general, the TFgrain of the cultivars followed the order of R1>R2>R3>R4> R6-R5. The Cd concentration (mg kg–1 FW) in the fraction of root CW, the fraction of cell wall removing pectin (CW-P) and the fraction of cell wall removing pectin and hemicellulose (CW-P-HC) of the cultivars generally followed the order of CW-P>CW>CW-P-HC; the ratios of Cd concentration (mg kg–1 FW) in the fraction of CW-P to that of CW were mostly more than 1.10, while the ratios of Cd concentration in the fraction of CW-P-HC to that of CW were mostly less than 0.60, indicating that Cd was mainly stored in the hemicellulose of the root CW. The ratios of Cd of CW-P-HC to CW generally followed the descending order of R1~R2>R3>R4>R5~R6 for the cultivars, which implied that hemicellulose is probably the main subcellular pool for transferring Cd into rice grain, and it restrains the translocation of Cd from shoot to the grain, especially for the Cd-tolerance cultivars (R5 and R6), the compartmentation of more Cd in hemicellulose in root CW is probably one of the main mechanisms for Cd tolerance of rice cultivars.