A turn-on NIR fluorescent probe for risk-assessing oxidative stress in cabbage roots under abiotic stress.

Oxidative stress is closely related to the crop health status under stress conditions. HO is an important signaling molecule in plants under stress. Therefore, monitoring HO fluctuations is of great significance when risk-assessing oxidative stress. However, few fluorescent probes have been reported for the in situ tracking of HO fluctuations in crops. Herein, we designed a "turn-on" NIR fluorescent probe (DRP-B) to detect and in situ-image HO in living cells and crops. DRP-B exhibited good detection performance for HO and could image endogenous HO in living cells. More importantly, it could semi-quantitatively visualize HO in cabbage roots under abiotic stress. Visualization of HO in cabbage roots revealed HO upregulation in response to adverse environments (metals, flood, and drought). This study provides a new method for risk-assessing oxidative stress in plants under abiotic stress and is expected to provide guidance for the development of new antioxidant defense strategies to enhance plant resistance and crop productivity.