Luis Eduardo Hernández

Luis Eduardo Hernández
Autonomous University of Madrid | UAM · Department of Biology

PhD in Chemistry

About

99
Publications
19,648
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4,357
Citations
Additional affiliations
March 1999 - present
Autonomous University of Madrid
Description
  • Plant Physiology, Plant Biotechnology
July 1998 - February 1999
Wageningen University & Research
January 1995 - April 1998
John Innes Centre

Publications

Publications (99)
Article
Full-text available
This article offers a comprehensive review of sustainable plant nutrition concepts, examining a multitude of cutting‐edge techniques that are revolutionizing the modern area. The review copes with the crucial role of biostimulants as products that stimulate plant nutrition processes, including their potential for biofertilization, followed by an ex...
Article
Full-text available
Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant that affects numerous marine aquatic ecosystems. We isolated Chlorococcum dorsiventrale Ch-UB5 microalga from coastal areas of Tunisia suffering from metal pollution and analyzed its tolerance to Hg. This strain accumulated substantial amounts of Hg and was able to remove up to 95% of added metal after 24 and 72 h...
Article
Full-text available
Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) are obligate endoparasites that feed on their host plants to complete its life cycle, representing a major threat to agriculture and economy worldwide. The development of new management strategies becomes essential as effective chemical nematicides are progressively being restricted. Hence, we analysed grape pomace-derive...
Article
Full-text available
Cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) are ubiquitous soil pollutants that promote the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, causing oxidative stress. Tolerance depends on signalling processes that activate different defence barriers, such as accumulation of small heat sock proteins (sHSPs), activation of antioxidant enzymes, and the synthesis of phytoch...
Article
Full-text available
Mercury (Hg) is one of the most dangerous pollutant heavy metals to the environment, which causes several toxic effects in plants upon accumulation, such as induction of oxidative stress. Nitrate (NO3) is the prevalent form to incorporate nitrogen (N) in higher plants, through its reduction to nitrite (NO2) by the enzyme nitrate reductase (NR). We...
Article
Full-text available
Within the context of climate change and its impact on global food security, seed storage has become key, as it ensures long-term food and next-season seed preservation. Aiming at evaluating quality-related changes in quinoa seeds over storage time, different storage temperatures (–20, 4, 12, 25, and 37°C) and humidity conditions (use of silica gel...
Article
The use of nanofertilizers could be a potential solution to address the current challenges of agriculture (global hunger, increase of world population, highly inefficient use of fertilizer, soil nutrient deficiency and scarcity of raw materials). Most available literature focuses on the effects of some nanomaterials synthesized at lab scale and det...
Article
Full-text available
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) of varied types can be yielded in plants at several primary sites (such as the chloroplast, mitochondria, and peroxisomes) under normal aerobic metabolism via processes including photosynthetic and respiratory electron transport chains. However, impaired oxidant-antioxidant balance and extreme growth conditions in plan...
Article
Mercury (Hg) is one of the most dangerous pollutant heavy metals to the environment, which causes several toxic effects in plants upon accumulation, such as induction of oxidative stress. Nitrate (NO3–) is the prevalent form to incorporate nitrogen (N) in higher plants, through its reduction to nitrite (NO2–) by the enzyme nitrate reductase (NR). W...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background and aims Mercury (Hg) is one of the most dangerous pollutant heavy metals to the environment, which causes several toxic effects in plants upon accumulation, such as induction of oxidative stress. Nitrogen (N) is one of the most limiting macronutrient for plants, being mostly assimilated as NO3─ which is reduced to NO2─ by the enzyme nit...
Article
Full-text available
Toxic metals such as cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) represent a threat to photosynthetic organisms of polluted aquatic ecosystems, and knowledge about mechanisms of toxicity is essential for appropriate assessment of environmental risks. We used Synchrotron Radiation-Fourier Transformed Infrared microspectroscopy (μSR-FTIR) to characterise major cha...
Article
Mercury (Hg) is one of the most hazardous pollutants released by humans and is of global environmental concern. Mercury causes oxidative stress and strong cellular damages in plants, which can be attenuated by the biosynthesis of thiol-rich peptides (biothiols), including glutathione (GSH) and phytochelatins (PCs). We analysed Hg tolerance and spec...
Chapter
Autophagy constitutes an essential process triggered by oxidative stress that enables cells to recycle damaged biomolecules and organelles, which is eventually traced by immunodetection with anti-ATG8. In parallel with autophagy induction, carbon metabolism in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under abiotic stress is diverged toward lipid biosynthesis and...
Article
Full-text available
We investigated the presence of microplastics and other anthropogenic litter in the sediments adhered to rocks of an Arctic freshwater lake at Ny-Ålesund (Svalbard Archipelago, 78°N; 11°E). Most of the sampled microparticles were fibers (>90%). The identification of polymer types and additives was performed by combining three spectroscopic techniqu...
Article
Aluminium (Al) water pollution is an increasing environmental problem and comprehensive analysis of toxic responses of aquatic primary producer organisms is imperative. We characterized the antioxidant response of Scenedesmus sp. microalga to Al-induced oxidative stress. After 72 h of exposure to Al (0, 10, and 100 μM) in a modified Bold Basal Medi...
Chapter
Full-text available
Arsenic (As) is a harmful metalloid that can be naturally found in soils and water. Consumption of contaminated groundwater is the most common source of human poisoning; furthermore, the ingestion of contaminated food is currently getting much attention. The main problem arises when crops incorporate the metalloid by direct absorption of groundwate...
Article
Full-text available
The genetic diversity of 12 Atriplex halimus L. populations collected throughout its natural range in Morocco has been studied by using sequences of nrDNA ITS region. Within-population genetic diversity was high in comparison to others species with similar life histories and ecological traits. Most of genetic variation detected by AMOVA resided wit...
Article
Arsenic (As) constitutes a global environmental problem being groundwater the first stage of metalloid distribution in the trophic chain. Thus, soybean plants inoculated with Bradyrhizobium sp. Per 3.61 (a rhizobia that promotes As phytostabilization) were examined to elucidate the impact of a natural arsenate dose on growth and nodulation and to d...
Article
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are by-products of aerobic metabolism, and excessive production can result in oxidative stress and cell damage. In addition, ROS function as cellular messengers, working as redox regulators in a multitude of biological processes. Understanding ROS signalling and stress responses requires methods for precise imaging and...
Article
Full-text available
Arsenic (As) is a toxic metalloid that has gained special interest in the past years as a global environmental problem. Groundwater in Córdoba province (Argentina) presents high As concentrations which can be absorbed by plants or be used for artificial irrigation. The aim of this research was to elucidate the differential responses of symbiotic in...
Article
White lupin plants were grown in hydroponics with 0, 90 and 180 µmol L⁻¹ Pb(II) ethylenediaminetetraacetate complex for 30 days. Pb distribution (shoot/root ratio) was 0,34 and 0.46 for both Pb treatments. In the shoots, no decreases in biomass nor in photosynthetic pigment levels and no changes in the concentrations of malondialdehyde and glutathi...
Article
Arsenic (As)-polluted groundwater constitutes a serious problem for peanut plants, as roots can accumulate the metalloid in their edible parts. Characterization of stress responses to As may help to detect potential risks and identify mechanisms of tolerance, being the induction of oxidative stress a key feature. Fifteen-day old peanut plants were...
Chapter
Efficient phytoremediation of soils polluted with toxic elements greatly depends on the ability of selected plants to withstand the damages induced by these contaminants. Among other metabolites, glutathione (GSH) plays a fundamental dual role in tolerance as an antioxidant required for the attenuation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as supe...
Article
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are metabolic by-products in aerobic organisms including plants. Endogenously produced ROS act as cellular messengers and redox regulators involved in several plant biological processes, but excessive accumulation of ROS cause oxidative stress and cell damage. Understanding ROS signalling and stress responses requires...
Article
Full-text available
The presence of arsenic in soil and water is a constant threat to plant growth in many regions of the world. Phytohormones act in the integration of growth control and stress response, but their role in plant responses to arsenic remains to be elucidated. Here we show that arsenate [As(V)], the most prevalent arsenic chemical species in nature, cau...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Mercury (Hg) is one of the most harmful metals in nature. In plants, the accumulation of Hg produces diverse toxic effects, most of them caused by the strong affinity of Hg for sulfhydryl residues. In addition, the induction of oxidative stress is a well-known symptom of the Hg accumulation in plant cells. Previously we have shown the relevant role...
Article
Full-text available
The accumulation of toxic metals and metalloids, such as cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), or arsenic (As), as a consequence of various anthropogenic activities, poses a serious threat to the environment and human health. The ability of plants to take up mineral nutrients from the soil can be exploited to develop phytoremediation technologies able to all...
Article
Full-text available
The induction of oxidative stress is one of the quickest symptoms appearing in plants subjected to metal stress. A transcriptional analysis of the early responses of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) seedlings to mercury (Hg; 3 μM for 3, 6 and 24 h) showed that up-regulation of genes responding to ethylene were up-regulated, a phytohormone known to mediate...
Article
This study aims to uncover the spatiotemporal involvement of glutathione (GSH) in two major mechanisms of cadmium (Cd)-induced detoxification (i.e. chelation and antioxidative defence). A kinetic study was conducted on hydroponically grown Arabidopsis thaliana (L. Heyhn) to gain insight into the early events after exposure to Cd. Cadmium detoxifica...
Article
Full-text available
Background Glutathione (GSH) plays a dual role under heavy metal stress, as antioxidant metabolite and as precursor of phytochelatins (PCs). Studying the responses of the GSH metabolism to heavy metals is important to improve tolerance. Methods We studied the oxidative stress signature of three -glutamylcysteine synthetase (ECS) Arabidopsis thali...
Article
Full-text available
Recent research efforts have highlighted the importance of glutathione (GSH) as a key antioxidant metabolite for metal tolerance in plants. Little is known about the mechanisms involved in stress due to mercury (Hg), one of the most hazardous metals to the environment and human health. To understand the implication of GSH metabolism for Hg toleranc...
Article
Understanding the cellular mechanisms of plant tolerance to mercury ( H g) is important for developing phytoremediation strategies of H g‐contaminated soils. The early responses of alfalfa ( M edicago sativa ) seedlings to H g were studied using transcriptomics analysis. A M edicago truncatula microarray was hybridized with high‐quality root RNA fr...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The effect of nitrogen nutrient status was studied in alfalfa (Medicago sativa) plants cultivated in mercury (Hg)-polluted soils from Almadén (Spain). Fertilisation of plants with NH4NO3 increased biomass, augmented Hg uptake but reduced the capability to fix N2 in symbiosis with Ensifer meliloti bacteria. Oxidative stress parameters were measured...
Article
Full-text available
Stress constantly challenges plant adaptation to the environment. Of all stress types, arsenic was a major threat during the early evolution of plants. The most prevalent chemical form of arsenic is arsenate, whose similarity to phosphate renders it easily incorporated into cells via the phosphate transporters. Here, we found that arsenate stress p...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Glutathione (GSH) is considered a fundamental component of metal homeostasis because its dual role as antioxidant and precursor of phytochelatins (PCs), important metal ligands in plant cells (1). Many aspects of GSH metabolism regulation under heavy metal stress remain to be elucidated. This was studied in two allele γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase...
Article
Full-text available
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) plants exposed for 8 weeks in pots to increasing concentrations of cadmium (Cd; 0.35 and 7 mg·kg -1 dry soil) and copper (Cu; 3.5 and 70 mg.kg -1 dry soil) were tested for metal accumulation, growth inhibition and oxidative stress response in roots and leaves. The investigated parameters were biometric measurements (root a...
Article
Full-text available
Atriplex halimus L. (Chenopodiaceae) is a monoecious C 4 perennial shrub native to the Mediterranean Basin, used as fodder shrub for livestock and useful for rehabilitation of degraded rangelands. To assess the levels and patterns of genetic diversity of this species, 99 samples of 11 populations collected throughout the natural range in Morocco pl...
Article
Better understanding of mercury (Hg) accumulation, distribution and speciation in plants is required to evaluate potential risks for the environment and to optimize phytostabilization strategies for Hg-contaminated soils. The behavior of Hg in alfalfa (Medicago sativa) plants grown under controlled conditions in a hydroponic system (30 µM HgCl2) wa...
Article
Full-text available
Plants exposed to trace elements can suffer from oxidative stress, which is characterised by the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, alteration in the cellular antioxidant defence system and ultimately lipid peroxidation. We assessed the most-appropriate stress indexes to describe the response of two plant species, with different strategies fo...
Data
Full-text available
Specific stress responses to cadmium, arsenic and mercury appear in the metallophyte Silene vulgaris when grown hydroponically3 The tolerance of the metallophyte Silene vulgaris, a plant suitable for the phytostabilisation of metal(loid)-contaminated soils, to arsenic (As), mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd) was evaluated in a semi-hydroponic culture sy...
Article
Full-text available
Specific stress responses to cadmium, arsenic and mercury appear in the metallophyte Silene vulgaris when grown hydroponically3 The tolerance of the metallophyte Silene vulgaris, a plant suitable for the phytostabilisation of metal(loid)-contaminated soils, to arsenic (As), mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd) was evaluated in a semi-hydroponic culture sy...
Data
Specific stress responses to cadmium, arsenic and mercury appear in the metallophyte Silene vulgaris when grown hydroponically3 The tolerance of the metallophyte Silene vulgaris, a plant suitable for the phytostabilisation of metal(loid)-contaminated soils, to arsenic (As), mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd) was evaluated in a semi-hydroponic culture sy...
Data
Specific stress responses to cadmium, arsenic and mercury appear in the metallophyte Silene vulgaris when grown hydroponically3 The tolerance of the metallophyte Silene vulgaris, a plant suitable for the phytostabilisation of metal(loid)-contaminated soils, to arsenic (As), mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd) was evaluated in a semi-hydroponic culture sy...
Article
Full-text available
Cadmium (Cd) is a well known heavy metal considered as one of the most toxic metals on Earth, affecting all viable cells that are exposed even at low concentration. It is introduced to agricultural soils mainly by phosphate fertilizers and causes many toxic symptoms in cells. Phytochelatins (PCs) are non-protein thiols which are involved in oxidati...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The dual role of glutathione (GSH) in oxidative stress caused by heavy metals, as antioxidant metabolite and as precursor of phytochelatins is a well-known fact. In this study we worked with -glutamylcisteine synthetase (-ECS) mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana, which had lower levels of GSH relative to the wild type (Columbia; Col-0): rax1-1 (45 %)...
Article
The mineral nutrition status of plants might affect the accumulation of heavy metals, which in turn could be reflected in altered plant sensitivity. Very little information is available about the effect of the nitrogen nutritional status on mercury (Hg) toxicity. We compared physiological stress parameters sensitive to Hg in alfalfa (Medicago sativ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) plants exposed for 8 weeks in pots to increasing concentrations of cadmium (Cd; 0.35 and 7 mg·kg-1 dry soil) and copper (Cu; 3.5 and 70 mg.kg-1 dry soil) were tested for oxidative stress response in roots and leaves. The examined parameters were malonedyaldehyde accumulation (MDA; index of lipid peroxidation), glutathione...
Chapter
Full-text available
The characterization of the mechanisms of heavy metal detoxification has been undertaken through several experimental approaches, where high metal concentrations have been frequently used. A microscale hydroponic system was used to discriminate between the direct and indirect phytotoxic effects that may occur under heavy metal stress at short expos...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
One of the most hazardous metals to the environment is mercury (Hg), which accumulates in soils of Almadén (Spain); area that has the largest levels of environmental Hg in the World. A key component of Hg-detoxification in plants is the metabolism of glutathione (GSH), although some aspects need clarification. With this purpose, we studied the tole...
Article
Full-text available
Nicotiana tabacum transgenic plants overexpressing manganese (Mn) superoxide dismutase (SOD) targeted to plastids were studied upon 12.5 PM cadmium (Cd) application. No differences in tolerance were observed in comparison to wild type plants. Seed germination inhibition, seedling growth, and plant biomass were measured at different developmental st...
Article
Three-week-old alfalfa (Medicago sativa), barley (Hordeum vulgare) and maize (Zea mays) were exposed for 7 d to 30 µm of mercury (HgCl(2) ) to characterize the Hg speciation in root, with no symptoms of being poisoned. The largest pool (99%) was associated with the particulate fraction, whereas the soluble fraction (SF) accounted for a minor propor...
Article
Full-text available
Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are a family of metalloenzymes that catalyse the disproportionation of superoxide radicals into hydrogen peroxide and oxygen. In sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) seedlings, two new Mn-SOD isozymes, designated as I and II, were identified. However, no evidence for a Fe-SOD was found. Both Mn-SOD I and Mn-SOD II have a cl...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Silene vulgaris (Moench) is a metallophyte plant, its fast and vigorously growth and high colonization capacity make it a very interesting species for phytoremediation. Toxic metal(loid)s, such as Hg, Cd and As can exert relevant changes in plant metabolism, alteration of proteins function, and induction of oxidative stress. To prevent oxidative st...
Article
Full-text available
Several physiological parameters related to oxidative stress, which is a characteristic of plants exposed to toxic metals, were studied in 3-week-old alfalfa plants treated with cadmium (Cd) or mercury (Hg) at doses of 0, 3, 10 and 30 microM for 7d. The concentrations of biothiols, glutathione (GSH), homoglutathione (hGSH) and phytochelatins (PCs)...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Appearance of oxidative stress is one of the characteristic symptoms of plant exposure to toxic metals. The accumulation of reactive oxygen species, and the corresponding cell damages, can be used as an index to determine plant responses to toxic metals. Several physiological parameters related to oxidative stress were studied in alfalfa plants exp...
Article
Variability related to RAPD markers and sequences of nrDNA ITS region has been studied in seven species of the genus Atriplex (A. amnicola, A. canescens, A. halimus from Morocco (MAR) and from USA, A. lentiformis, A. nummularia, A. semibaccata and A. undulate). As a whole, the results show a high variability among the species. The biggest diversity...
Article
Here, the kinetics of oxidative stress responses of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) seedlings to cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) (0, 3, 10 and 30 microm) exposure, expanding from a few minutes to 24 h, were studied. Intracellular oxidative stress was analysed using 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate and extracellular hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) production...
Article
A simple, highly selective, sensitive, and reproducible liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (time of flight) method has been developed for the direct and simultaneous determination of glutathione and related compounds such as homoglutathione in different plant tissues. These compounds are low-molecular mass antioxidants...
Article
Full-text available
A hydroponic experiment was carried out to characterize the oxidative stress responses of maize seedlings (Zea mays L. cv. Dekalb DK604) to cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg). Plants were grown hydroponically for 7days in a nutrient solution supplemented with several concentrations of Cd and Hg: 0.0 (control), 6 or 30μM. Growth was inhibited by both met...