Transcriptome profiling of wheat seedlings following treatment with ultrahigh diluted arsenic trioxide

Abstract

Plant systems are useful research tools to address basic questions in homeopathy as they make it possible to overcome some of the drawbacks encountered in clinical trials (placebo effect, ethical issues, duration of the experiment, and high costs). The objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis whether 7-day-old wheat seedlings, grown from seeds either poisoned with a sublethal dose of Asor unpoisoned, showed different significant gene expression profiles after the application of ultrahigh diluted As(beyond Avogadro's limit) compared to water (control). The results provided evidence for a strong gene modulating effect of ultrahigh diluted Asin seedlings grown from poisoned seeds: a massive reduction of gene expression levels to values comparable to those of the control group was observed for several functional classes of genes. A plausible hypothesis is that ultrahigh diluted Astreatment induced a reequilibration of those genes that were upregulated during the oxidative stress by bringing the expression levels closer to the basal levels normally occurring in the control plants.