Figure 5

Susceptibility of transgenic plants to Hg(II) and CH ₃ Hg(I). Sterilized seeds of wild-type (Wild) and transgenic (E2) plants were germinated and grown on MS gellan gum plates in the presence or absence of 5 μM HgCl₂ and 0.3 μM CH₃HgCl (A). After culture for 2 weeks at 22°C, the total wet weights of plants (B) and root growth (C) levels of wild-type plants (empty bar) and merE- transgenic plants (black bar) were evaluated as described in the Materials and Methods. The total wet weight of the wild-type plants in the absence of mercurials was considered as control (B). The data are expressed as the means ± S.E.M. based on four determinations from three independent experiments. *P < 0.05 vs. the wild type.