Engineering abiotic stress using the properties of soil mycorrhiza, in rice plants (Oryza sativa) -an silico study

Abstract

Heave metals have been a major reason for abiotic stress in rice plants affecting human being. Symbiotic relations between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and the rice plant can help in reducing abiotic stresses primarily caused by the heavy metals. Because of its structural components, mycorrhizal fungi can effectively reduce the heavy metal concentration in the rice roots thus, withholding the translocation of the heavy metals to the leaves and grains. This phenomenon is a direct effect of mycorrhizal adaptation to abiotic stress regardless of the host plant's metabolism. Host plants in abiotic stress can utilize this mechanism, thus a progressive approach of ultilizing the mycorrhizal symbiosis. In the present work this has been elaborated through in-silico study of the protein-metal interactions during heavy metal absorption in plant root, also the efficacy of mycorrhizal fungi in the process of heavy metal stress bioremediation. From the docking scores, as observed in the interactions between the fungal protein (metallothionein, carboxyl estarase2) and the heavy metal, it is evident that the higher binding affinity of the fungal protein to the heavy metals reduces the metal accumulation by the rice plant leaving the binding proteins available to bind with the necessary salts. The comparison of binding affinity between the metal with plant protein and the fugal protein revealed in this work that, the binding affinity of the heavy metal with the fungal metal accumulating proteins is many fold more than the metal accumulating rice root proteins. This method of utilizing mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizospheric soil of the rice plant is promising enough to serve as a new technique in the bioremediation of heavy metals.