Fig 1. Schematic representation of the experimental setup used to compare Cd-treated sorghum seedlings with untreated plants (Control).

The sorghum seedlings (BTX 623) were grown in growth chambers for 10 days in Hoagland solution. Ten-day-old sorghum seedlings were exposed to different concentrations of cadmium (0 μM, 100 μM, 150 μM CdCl₂) for 5 days. The samples were collected from the control and Cd-induced leaves for measurement of morphological and physiological parameters (shoot lengths, fresh weights, relative water content, confocal and ion analysis). For proteome analysis, leaves were excised, pooled, rinsed with de-ionized water, rapidly frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at -80°C. Molecular changes were investigated in S. bicolor using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) in samples derived from the leaves of both control and Cd-treated seedlings.