sex-dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism in plants refers to the phenomenon where male and female individuals of the same species display distinct morphological differences beyond their reproductive structures. In plant science, studying these differences helps researchers understand the evolutionary pressures and genetic mechanisms that drive sex determination and resource allocation strategies in dioecious plant species. This research has implications for understanding how plants adapt to environmental conditions and how sex-linked traits evolve across the plant kingdom.
open_in_new WikipediaPubMed · 2026-05-06
Male and female liverworts respond differently to toxic cadmium contamination, with females absorbing more of the metal but males suffering greater damage. Adding glutathione (a natural antioxidant) from outside the plant helped reduce this stress in both sexes.
Female Marchantia polymorpha accumulated significantly more cadmium (82.97 ± 0.75 mg/kg) than male plants, indicating strong sex-dependent differences in metal uptake.
Despite lower cadmium accumulation, male plants exhibited greater physiological and morphological damage under cadmium stress, suggesting sex-specific tolerance mechanisms.
Exogenous application of glutathione (GSH) provided measurable remedial effects for both sexes, reducing cadmium-induced stress through transcriptomic and metabolomic pathway changes.
