Production and Role of Molecular Hydrogen in Plants

Abstract

Molecular hydrogen (hydrogen gas; H2), is gaining prominence in the scientific literature as well as the popular media. Early pre-clinical and clinical studies suggest the use of H2 treatment for a wide range of human diseases, from COVID-19 to various neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, its biological activity also appears to have therapeutic and regulatory effects in plants. Accordingly, it has been suggested to be useful in large-scale agricultural settings.

Hydrogen gas has effects on a range of physiological events in plants. It has been shown to have effects on seed germination, plant growth, and development. It has also been found to be involved in plant stress responses and to be protective against pathological abiotic stress challenges. Similarly, it also has beneficial effects during the post-harvest storage of crops. Therefore, its use in the agricultural setting has great potential as it appears to be safe, with no toxicity or harm to the environment.

One of the conundrums of the use of hydrogen gas is how it induces these observed effects in plants and plant cells. It is difficult to envisage how it works based on a classical receptor mechanism. There is some evidence that it may act as a direct antioxidant, especially by scavenging hydroxyl radicals, or via enhancing the plant’s innate antioxidant system as a biological signaling molecule. It has also been reported to exert some effects through action on heme oxygenase, cross-talk with other signaling molecules, and regulating the expression of various genes. However, how molecular hydrogen fits into, and integrates with, other signaling pathways is not clearly understood. Future work is needed to elucidate the mechanism(s) and significance of the interaction of H2 with these and other cellular systems.

This Special Issue aims to bring together a body of papers that focus on the current state-of-play of the molecular biology and possible uses of molecular hydrogen with plants. It is hoped that this Special Issue will highlight the future work which may be undertaken in this field and help to encourage researchers to investigate this exciting field further.

Citation

Hancock, J. (Ed.). (2022). Production and Role of Molecular Hydrogen in Plants. MDPI

• Book Type: Edited Book
• Publication Date: Sep 23, 2022
• Deposit Date: Sep 27, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 27, 2022
• Publisher: MDPI
• Series Title: A special issue of Plants. This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Physiology and Metabolism".
• Series ISSN: 2223-7747
• ISBN: 978-3-0365-5097-8
• Keywords: redox signaling; reactive oxygen species; hydrogen sulfide; hydrogen gas; nitric oxide
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10012120
• Publisher URL: https://www.mdpi.com/books/pdfdownload/book/5994
• Related Public URLs: This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Plants; (ISSN 2223-7747) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/plants/special issues/Molecular; Hydrogen).; ; https://www.mdpi.com/journal/plants/special_issues/Molecular_Hydrogen