Modulation of the antioxidative response of Spartina densiflora against iron exposure.

Spartina densiflora, an invader cordgrass living in polluted salt marshes of the Odiel estuary (SW Spain), was collected and cultured under controlled laboratory conditions. After acclimation to non-polluted soils for 28 days, both metabolites and enzymes activities used as indicators of oxidative stress were reduced significantly. Then, plants were exposed to 500 and 1000 ppm Fe-ethylenediamine-N,N'-2-hydroxyphenyl acetic acid (EDDHA) for 28 days. Our data demonstrate that iron content in leaves was enhanced by iron exposure. This iron increase caused an enhancement in the concentration of H2O2, hydroperoxides and lipid peroxidation, and a decrease in chlorophyll levels. Thus, iron exposure led to oxidative stress conditions. However, oxidative indicators stabilised after first 2 weeks of exposure, although the highest iron levels in leaves were reached at the end of treatments. Iron exposure induced an enhancement of catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and guaiacol peroxidase activities, together with an increase in total and oxidised ascorbate. This response may be defensive against oxidative stress and thus help to explain why cell oxidative damages were stabilised. Thus, by using a sensitive long-time protocol, iron-dependent oxidative damages may be controlled and even reverted successfully by the activation of the antioxidative defences of S. densiflora. This efficient antioxidative system, rapidly modulated in response to excess iron and other environmental stressors, may account for S. densiflora's successful adaptation to stress conditions in its habitat.