ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
This article is part of the Research TopicWomen in Plant Abiotic Stress: 2025View all 3 articles
Electrochromic polyoxometalates for sensing abiotic stress in plants
Provisionally accepted
Ana González1,2*
Felipe Pérez-Gordillo3
María C. Romero-Puertas3
Luisa M. Sandalio3Jose M Dominguez-Vera1,2- 1Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- 2Instituto de Biotecnología, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- 3Stress, Development and Signaling in Plants, Estacion Experimental del Zaidin, Granada, Spain
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Understanding plant responses to abiotic stress requires an insight into plant redox activity. This study proposes a novel and cost-effective method for assessing the redox state of plants. The method utilizes the electrochromic properties of polyoxometalate phosphomolybdic acid hydrate (PMA). PMA is reduced proportionally by glutathione (GSH) and ascorbic acid (AsA), which results in a color change. The validity of the aforementioned method was confirmed through empirical experimentation in Arabidopsis thaliana under conditions of salinity and UV radiation. Salinity treatments revealed a nonsignificant, two-phase trend in redox activity, with an increase at moderate levels followed by a decrease. UVC radiation led to a substantial decrease in redox activity, indicating distress. In contrast, UVA promoted resilience, also known as eustress. It is noteworthy that UVB significantly increased redox activity, suggesting the activation of an emergency antioxidant response. A demonstrable correlation has been identified between the redox activity of plants and various stress types. This correlation facilitates the classification of responses into two distinct categories: adaptive eustress and detrimental distress. This advancement contributes to the enhancement of plant metabolic and stress tolerance evaluation.
Keywords: abiotic stress, redox sensor, Ascorbic Acid, Glutathione, polyoxometalates, Arabidopsis thaliana, Eustress, distress
Received: 24 Jul 2025; Accepted: 26 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 González, Pérez-Gordillo, Romero-Puertas, Sandalio and Dominguez-Vera. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ana González
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