Calcium-Mediated Mitigation Strategies and Novel Approaches To Alleviate Arsenic Induced Plant Stress

Abstract

One worldwide environmental concern is the presence of potentially hazardous elements (PTEs) in air, soil, and water resources. Arsenic is one of the PTEs that is thought to be the most poisonous and carcinogenic. Plants exposed to arsenic may experience several morphological, physiological, and biochemical changes-even at extremely low concentrations. Arsenic toxicity to plants varies with its speciation in plants (e.g.] arsenite, As(III); [arsenate, As(V)), with the kind of plant species, and with other soil parameters affecting arsenic accumulation in plants, according to new study on arsenic in the soil-plant system. Arsenic stress modifies metabolic cascades in plants at different developmental stages by affecting the pattern of gene expressions mediated by small non-coding RNAs (micro-RNAs), which are essential for plant adaptation to oxidative stress and play a key role in the moderation of numerous cellular processes. In this review, we investigated the impact of calcium (Ca2 +) on the toxicity of arsenic in plant and soil environments. Plant grown with arsenic exhibited enhanced arsenic uptake, increased oxidative stress and growth inhibition. Arsenic toxicity modulates carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism along with DNA structure. Role of Ca2+, Ca channels and Ca sensors to signaling pathways also described briefly. A worldwide issue for humanity is the poisoning of soil ecosystems by arsenic. Its toxicity, tolerance, and phytoremediation of polluted soils utilizing calcium were the main points of the recent review, which also highlighted the significant mechanisms of arsenic in soil-plant systems. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.