Table 2.
Effects of various abiotic stress factors on qualitative ultrastructural characteristics of plant model systems.
| Compartment/Structure | Abiotic Factor | Plants Species | Cell Effects | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cell wall | Salinity (25–200 mM NaCl) | Solanum tuberosum | Twisted and ruptured cell walls, cell wall disintegration | [153] |
| Salinity (100 mM NaCl) | Arabidopsis thaliana | Detachment of plasmalemma from cell wall | [151] | |
| Oxidative stress (20 mM H2O2) | Brachypodium distachyon | Broken cell walls | [66] | |
| Osmotic stress (15% PEG6000) | Brachypodium distachyon | Broken cell walls | [65] | |
| Metal stress (80–320 μM Na2SeO4) | Allium sativum | Local thickenings of cell walls | [154] | |
| Heat stress (37 °C) | Coffea arabica | Modification of cell wall structure | [155] | |
| Plasma membrane | Salinity (25–200 mM NaCl) | Solanum tuberosum | Membrane invagination | [153] |
| Osmotic stress (15% PEG6000) | Brachypodium distachyon | Obscured cell membranes, plasmolysis | [65] | |
| Plasmodesmata | Cold stress (12/10 °C day/night) | Miscanthus × giganteus | Marked constriction of the cytoplasmic sleeve of the plasmodesmata at the mesophyll–bundle sheath interface | [156] |
| Chilling stress (14 °C) | Zea mays | Strong constriction and swelling of the sphincters in plasmodesmata | [157] | |
| Nucleus | Alkaline stress (pH 8.0) | Triticum aestivum | Increase in the number of amoeboid nucleoli with protuberances, disturbances in chromatin compaction, and occurrence of nuclear bodies of unknown etiology | [158] |
| Oxidative stress (20 mM H2O2) | Brachypodium distachyon | Damage to nuclear membrane | [66] | |
| Osmotic stress (15% PEG6000) | Brachypodium distachyon | Deformation and spreading of nucleoli | [65] | |
| Metal stress (0.1 mM CuSO4) | Allium sativum | Disruption of nuclear membranes and high condensation of chromatin | [159] | |
| Salinity (0.1 M NaCl and 0.1 M Na2SO4) | Triticum aestivum | Lumps of condensed chromatin inside the nucleus and nucleolus, increased separation between condensed and decondensed chromatin, appearance of nucleus invagination, and complete change in the shape of the nuclei | [152] | |
| Plastid | High light stress (1500 μmol m−2 s−1) Pathogen infection (Botrytis cinerea) Dark-induced senescence |
Arabidopsis thaliana | Significant decrease in chloroplast number, chloroplast size reduction, thylakoid area reduction, increase in plastoglobules, changes in starch content | [121] |
| Chilling stress (2.5–4 °C) | Arabidopsis thaliana | Undulated and distorted thylakoid membranes arranged in grana stacks, large accumulation of starch, increase in average area per chloroplast | [160] | |
| Heat stress (37 °C) | Coffea arabica | Changes in thylakoid integration, loss of grana stacking | [155] | |
| Oxidative stress (20 mM H2O2) | Brachypodium distachyon | Swollen and deformed chloroplasts with dissolved grana thylakoid lamellae | [66] | |
| Salinity (25–200 mM NaCl) | Solanum tuberosum | Aggregation of chloroplasts accompanied by swelling of grana and fret compartments or by the complete distortion of chloroplast grana and thylakoid structures | [153] | |
| Salinity (100 mM NaCl) | Arabidopsis thaliana | Dilated thylakoid membranes, plastoglobuli accumulation | [151] | |
| Osmotic stress (100 mM mannitol) | Arabidopsis thaliana | Large starch grain accumulation | [151] | |
| Oxidative stress (0.5 mM H2O2) | Arabidopsis thaliana | Destruction of the lamellar system, marked alterations in stroma and thylakoid organization | [151] | |
| Metal stress (150 μM ZnSO4) | Arabidopsis thaliana | Disorganized and curved stroma and thylakoid membranes, occurrence of several plastoglobuli inclusions and large starch granules | [151] | |
| Plastid | Metal stress (100 μM SbCl3) | Trapa natans | Damaged chloroplasts, disintegrated inner membrane, disturbances in the orientation of the grana, starch accumulation | [161] |
| Metal stress (0.1 mM Fe(III)-EDTA) | Cucumis sativus | Swollen chloroplasts and impaired thylakoids | [162] | |
| Amyloplast | Salinity (25–125 mM NaCl) | Arabidopsis thaliana | Rapid degradation of amyloplasts | [163] |
| Salinity (120 mM NaCl) | Pisum sativum | Changes in amyloplast distribution | [164] | |
| Salinity (77.5 mM Na2SO4) | Nicotiana tabacum | Decrease in the number of starch grains in amyloplasts of the columella, no amyloplasts in the peripheral zone of the root cap | [165] | |
| Osmotic stress (sorbitol solution) | Arabidopsis thaliana and Raphanus sativus | Degradation of the starch amyloplasts in root columella cells | [166] | |
| Metal stress (0.75 mM CrCl3) | Iris pseudacorus | Decrease in the size of amyloplasts in the rhizome parenchyma | [167] | |
| Mitochondria | Metal stress (0.1 mM Fe(III)-EDTA) | Cucumis sativus | Mitochondria rearrangements, cristae remodeling | [162] |
| Chilling stress (0.5–4 °C) | Ranunculus glacialis | Fusion and aggregation of mitochondria | [168] | |
| Salt stress (86.2–258 mM NaCl) Oxidative stress (20 mM H2O2) Osmotic stress (15% PEG6000) Metal stress (80–320 μM Na2SeO4) |
Nicotiana tabacum
Brachypodium distachyon Allium sativum |
Lower matrix density with reduced number of cristae, dilated cristae, disintegrated matrix with messy or absent cristae | [65,66,154,169] | |
| Alkaline stress (pH 8.0) | Triticum aestivum | Formation of invaginations or even cup-shaped mitochondria | [152] | |
| Metal stress (0.1 mM CuSO4) | Allium sativum | Modifications in mitochondrial shape in the root meristematic cells, loss of matrix density, and an extension of cisternae | [159] | |
| Mitochondria | Alkaline stress (pH 8.0) | Triticum aestivum | Formation of invaginations or even cup-shaped mitochondria | [152] |
| Metal stress (0.1 mM CuSO4) | Allium sativum | Modifications in mitochondrial shape in the root meristematic cells, loss of matrix density, and an extension of cisternae | [159] | |
| Endoplasmic reticulum | Salinity (100 mM NaCl) | Arabidopsis thaliana | Endomembrane rearrangements | [151] |
| Metal stress (80–320 μM Na2SeO4) | Allium sativum | Appearance of concentric or parallel arrangement of abundant ER cisternae | [154] | |
| Metal stress (200–500 mg/L Na2WO4) | Pisum sativum | Ribosome-bearing cisternae of ER with concentric conformations frequently enclose cytoplasmic organelles | [170] | |
| Metal stress (0.1 mM CuSO4) | Allium sativum | Dilation of flattened cisternae of ER and their disintegration into small closed vesicles | [159] | |
| Oxidative stress (20 mM H2O2) | Brachypodium distachyon | Broken ER scattered close to the plasma membrane | [66] | |
| Golgi apparatus | Oxidative stress (0.5 mM H2O2) | Arabidopsis thaliana | Hypertrophied Golgi, high degree of membrane remodeling | [151] |
| Metal stress (80–320 μM Na2SeO4) | Allium sativum | Significant ultrastructural changes in GA | [154] | |
| Metal stress (0.1 mM CuSO4) | Allium sativum | Increase in dictyosome vesicles | [159] | |
| Vacuole | Metal stress (200–500 mg/L Na2WO4) | Pisum sativum | Deformation and variation in size and shape of vacuoles | [170] |
| Metal stress (0.1 mM CuSO4) | Allium sativum | Formation of larger vacuoles | [159] | |
| Salinity (NaCl, Na2SO4) and Osmotic stress (mannitol), | Medicago sativa | Modifications in the quantity and form of residual protein bodies within vacuoles | [171] | |
| Metal stress (100 μM SbCl3) | Trapa natans | Accumulation of Sb in vacuoles | [161] | |
| Metal stress (20–60 μμM CdCl2) | Oryza sativa | Cd compartmentation in vacuoles | [172] |