Chromium toxicity and tolerance in plants

Chromium (Cr) is the second most common metal contaminant in ground water, soil, and sediments due to its wide industrial application, hence posing a serious environmental concern. Among various valence states, Cr(III) and Cr(VI) are the most stable forms. Cr(VI) is the most persistent in the soil and is highly toxic for biota. Since Cr is a non-essential element for plants, there is no uptake mechanism; Cr is taken up along essential elements such as sulfate through sulfate transporters. Cr accumulation in plants causes high toxicity in terms of reduction in growth and biomass accumulation, and Cr induces structural alterations. Cr interferes with photosynthetic and respiration processes, and water and minerals uptake mechanism. Various enzymatic activities related to starch and nitrogen metabolism are decreased by Cr toxicity either by direct interference with the enzymes or through the production of reactive oxygen species. Cr causes oxidative damage by destruction of membrane lipids and DNA damage. Cr may even cause the death of plant species. Few plant species are able to accumulate high amount of Cr without being damaged. Such Cr-tolerant, hyperaccumulator plants are exploited for their bioremediation property. The present review discusses Cr availability in the environment, Cr transfer to biota, toxicity issues, effect on germination and plant growth, morphological and ultrastructural aberrations, biochemical and physiological alterations, effect on metabolic processes, Cr-induced alterations at the molecular level, Cr hyperaccumulation and Cr detoxification mechanism, and the role of arbuscular mycorrhizae in Cr toxicity, in plants.     

Heavy metals,occurrence and toxicity for plants: a review

Metal contamination issues are becoming increasingly common in India and elsewhere, with many documented cases of metal toxicity in mining industries, foundries, smelters, coal-burning power plants and agriculture. Heavy metals, such as cadmium, copper, lead, chromium and mercury are major environmental pollutants, particularly in areas with high anthropogenic pressure. Heavy metal accumulation in soils is of concern in agricultural production due to the adverse effects on food safety and marketability, crop growth due to phytotoxicity, and environmental health of soil organisms. The influence of plants and their metabolic activities affects the geological and biological redistribution of heavy metals through pollution of the air, water and soil. This article details the range of heavy metals, their occurrence and toxicity for plants. Metal toxicity has high impact and relevance to plants and consequently it affects the ecosystem, where the plants form an integral component. Plants growing in metal-polluted sites exhibit altered metabolism, growth reduction, lower biomass production and metal accumulation. Various physiological and biochemical processes in plants are affected by metals. The contemporary investigations into toxicity and tolerance in metal-stressed plants are prompted by the growing metal pollution in the environment. A few metals, including copper, manganese, cobalt, zinc and chromium are, however, essential to plant metabolism in trace amounts. It is only when metals are present in bioavailable forms and at excessive levels, they have the potential to become toxic to plants. This review focuses mainly on zinc, cadmium, copper, mercury, chromium, lead, arsenic, cobalt, nickel, manganese and iron.     

植物铜素毒害及其抗性机制研究进展

Cu是植物生命活动必需的微量矿质元素，广泛参与各种生命活动；但过量Cu胁迫将诱导植物细胞产生大量活性氧，引起膜脂过氧化，膜透性增大，细胞内容物大量外渗，甚至发生细胞死亡。Cu^2 扩散到细胞核内会诱发DNA之间、蛋白质之间以及DNA和蛋白质之间发生分子内和分子间交联，DNA链的断裂、重排和脱嘌呤作用等前诱变损伤以及DNA期外合成、DNA甲基化异常等遗传毒害。植物细胞在长期进化过程中形成了各种抗Cu素毒害机制，如细胞壁的固着作用、质膜的限制作用、有机小分子(有机酸、植物螯合肽、金属硫蛋白)螯合作用等。文章综述了有关研究的最新进展。     

Arsenic toxicity in crop plants: physiological effects and tolerance mechanisms

Heavy metals are toxic substances released into the environment, contributing to a variety of toxic effects on living organisms in food chain by accumulation and biomagnifications. Certain pollutants such as arsenic (As) remain in the environment for an extensive period. They eventually accumulate to levels that could harm physiochemical properties of soils and lead to loss of soil fertility and crop yield. Arsenic, when not detoxified, may trigger a sequence of reactions leading to growth inhibition, disruption of photosynthetic and respiratory systems, and stimulation of secondary metabolism. Plants respond to As toxicity by a variety of mechanisms including hyperaccumulation, antioxidant defense system, and phytochelation. Arbuscular mycorrhizae symbiosis occurs in almost all habitats and climates, including disturbed soils. There is growing evidence that arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi may alleviate metal/metalloid toxicity to host plant. Here, we review (1) arsenic speciation in the environment and how As is taken up by the roots and metabolised within plants, and (2) the role of arbuscular mycorrhizae in alleviating arsenic toxicity in crop plants.     

纳米材料与环境污染物的复合毒性

纳米材料因其独特的物理化学性质,不仅其自身具有毒性,还会与共存污染物相互作用,影响彼此的迁移转化和毒性效应。文中总结了纳米复合污染毒性的研究方法,并介绍了几种纳米材料(碳纳米材料、金属氧化物、量子点和零价金属)与重金属或有机物复合时造成的生物毒性,包括不同层次毒性指标响应(生物整体、生物积累、大分子水平)和毒性机制的探讨,展望了纳米复合污染毒性领域今后的发展方向和亟待研究的重要问题。     

Cadmium toxicity induced changes in plant water relations and oxidative metabolism of Brassica juncea L. plants

Excess of cadmium (Cd) induced changes in oxidative scenario and water status of plants viz.., total water content, specific water content, water saturation deficit (WSD) and transpiration of Brassica juncea plants grown in soil pot culture. Although lower and marginal levels of excess cadmium (100 and 250 ppm) improved growth but higher levels (500 ppm) caused significant suppression. Significant accumulation of proline, an indicator of water stress, occurred at higher level of Cd. Gradual increases in activities of certain antioxidant enzymes such as catalase and peroxidase along with increased lipid peroxidation are suggestive of disturbed oxidative metabolism. Taking together, the deleterious effects of Cd and its effects on oxidative metabolism clearly indicate enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to be instrumental in producing toxic effects of Cd. The excess levels of Cd also decreased the concentrations of soluble protein and chlorophylls and increased the ratio of chlorophyll a/b.     

Duckweeds for water remediation and toxicity testing

The presence of toxic substances in wastewaters and outdoor bodies of water is an important ecotoxicological issue. The aim of this review is to illustrate how duckweeds, which are small, simply constructed, floating aquatic plants, are well suited to addressing this concern. The ability of duckweeds to grow rapidly on nutrient-rich water and to facilitate the removal of many substances from aqueous solution comprises the potential of these macrophytes for the remediation of wastewater and polluted aqueous reservoirs, while producing usable biomass containing the unwanted substances having been taken up. Their ease of cultivation under controlled and even sterile conditions makes duckweeds excellent test organisms for determining the toxicity of water contaminants, and duckweeds are important as model aquatic plants in the assessment of ecotoxicity. Duckweeds are also valuable for establishing biomarkers for the toxic effects of water contaminants on aquatic higher plants, but the current usefulness of duckweed biomarkers for identifying toxicants is limited. The recent sequencing of a duckweed genome holds the promise of combining the determination of water contaminant toxicity with toxicant diagnostics by means of gene expression profiling via DNA microarrays.     

Age-size plasticity for reproduction in monocarpic plants

Empirical and theoretical investigations of monocarpy have usually addressed the question of minimum or threshold sizes for reproduction. However, the range of flowering sizes observed in many monocarpic species is extraordinarily large (well beyond what can be called a "threshold"), and the sizes of flowering and nonflowering plants may overlap greatly. We attempt to explain these reproductive patterns in terms of optimal reaction norms predicted by simple deterministic life history models. We assume that individuals differ in their growth trajectories due to the heterogeneous quality of microsites and ask how the optimal age and size at flowering varies with environmental variation in growth and for different assumptions about fecundity and mortality. Under two very different growth functions (one with no age- or size-related decline in growth rate and another with such a decline as size approaches an asymptote), the optimal reaction norms imply considerable plasticity for size at reproduction, particularly when poor growth is associated with higher mortality or lower asymptotic size. Deterministic models such as these may be more applicable to long-lived than to short-lived monocarps, because fitness potential should be less affected by stochastic variability in yearly growing condition in the former than in the latter. We consider the case of a tropical monocarpic and masting tree species, Cerberiopsis candelabra (Apocynaceae), and show that our model results can account for wide ranges of reproductive size and overlap in size of flowering and nonflowering plants, in accord with observation. We suggest that empirical attention to norms of reaction across growth environments will be a more profitable approach than investigation of size thresholds per se.     

转基因植物入侵性评价指标初探

从生态学 (种子水平和成体水平 )和生理生化 (酶表达、蛋白检测、光合能力等 )层次 ,探讨转基因植物 (GMP)可能形成入侵性的一些特性 ,尝试建立GMP入侵性的评价指标体系 ,为进行转基因植物的安全性评价提供借鉴。     

Quantifying progress toward a conservation assessment for all plants

The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) set an ambitious target to achieve a conservation assessment for all known plant species by 2020. We consolidated digitally available plant conservation assessments and reconciled their scientific names and assessment status to predefined standards to provide a quantitative measure of progress toward this target. The 241,919 plant conservation assessments generated represent 111,824 accepted land plant species (vascular plants and bryophytes, not algae). At least 73,081 and up to 90,321 species have been assessed at the global scale, representing 21–26% of known plant species. Of these plant species, at least 27,148 and up to 32,542 are threatened. Eighty plant families, including some of the largest, such as Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, and Rubiaceae, are underassessed and should be the focus of assessment effort if the GSPC target is to be met by 2020. Our data set is accessible online (ThreatSearch) and is a baseline that can be used to directly support other GSPC targets and plant conservation action. Although around one‐quarter of a million plant assessments have been compiled, the majority of plants are still unassessed. The challenge now is to build on this progress and redouble efforts to document conservation status of unassessed plants to better inform conservation decisions and conserve the most threatened species.     

Biochemical toxicity of benzene

Human exposure to benzene in work environment is a global occupational health problem. After inhalation or absorption, benzene targets organs viz. liver, kidney, lung, heart and brain etc. It is metabolized mainly in the liver by cytochrome P450 multifunctional oxygenase system. Benzene causes haematotoxicity through its phenolic metabolites that act in concert to produce DNA strand breaks, chromosomal damage, sister chromatid exchange, inhibition of topoisomerase II and damage to mitotic spindle. The carcinogenic and myelotoxic effects of benzene are associated with free radical formation either as benzene metabolites or lipid peroxidation products. Benzene oxide and phenol have been considered as proheptons. Liver microsomes play an important role in biotransformation of benzene whereas in kidney, it produces degenerative intracellular changes. Cohort studies made in different countries suggest that benzene induces multiple myeloma in petrochemical workers. Though extensive studies have been performed on its toxicity, endocrinal disruption caused by benzene remains poorly known. Transgenic cytochrome P450 IIE1 mice may help in understanding further toxic manifestations of benzene.     

Acid mine-drainage toxicity testing

The BOD inhibition test, the activated sludge respiration inhibition test, and the Microtox® Bioassay procedure were examined for their potential as rapid toxicity screening methods for acid mine drainage (AMD) and for setting toxicity threshold levels in receiving waters. The BOD inhibition test proved to be unsuitable due to the high chemical oxygen demand of the toxicant. The long incubation time (minimum 5 d at 20°C) allowed growth of chemo-autotrophic bacteria and resulted in excessive flocculation and precipitation of metals, making accurate and meaningful measurements of inhibition impossible. The activated sludge respiration inhibition test was successful in measuring AMD toxicity, and for deriving toxicity threshold levels for the basic heterotrophic community in surface waters. However, it is a very time-consuming technique and is not sensitive enough to be used as a routine screening technique. The variability in toxicity was found to be due to the availability of metals as well as the effect of pH on metabolism. Simple linear models were derived to estimate inhibition within surface waters. Prediction of the inhibition caused by AMD can be made as long as the pH of the river water after mixing and the dilution of the AMD are known. Most accurate predictions are made using equations for specific pH ranges, but a useful estimation of inhibition can be obtained using the general equation: inhibition (%) = -2.34 pH + 6.41 AMD (%) + 22.1. The Microtox® Bioassay method, although expensive, was rapid and simple to use. It was the most sensitive test of the three, with the toxic response of marine bacteria increasing notably from 5 to 15 min due to the presence of bivalent metals in the toxicant. The problem of repeatability and reproducibility encountered with the activated sludge inhibition test was overcome with the highly standardised Microtox® method, making it an ideal screening method for AMD. However, the advantage of the activated sludge inhibition test is that the types of heterotrophic micro-organisms found in activated sludge are similar to those found in receiving waters such as the Avoca River and so more meaningful toxicity threshold values can be obtained.     

Invasive plants as biosorbents for environmental remediation: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Water contamination is an environmental burden for the next generations, calling for advanced methods such as adsorption to remove pollutants. For instance,...     

植物耐受和解除重金属毒性研究进展

总结了植物细胞及分子水平对重金属耐性和解除其毒性的途径.植物通过避免增加细胞内敏感位点毒物浓度来解除重金属毒性.其途径主要有:一方面通过菌根化、细胞壁吸收及根系分泌物的螯合作用减少根系吸收重金属进入细胞质;另一方面通过体内调节机制解除重金属毒性和提高耐性,主要通过一系列膜蛋白对进入细胞质内的重金属排出细胞质外、隔离于液泡中,或将重金属转变为无毒性形态挥发入大气,或通过细胞质内的植物螯合素、金属硫蛋白、有机酸、氨基酸、多胺等对重金属螯合,解除重金属毒性;同时植物还可以在重金属胁迫下产生热休克蛋白修复胁迫伤害的蛋白质.本文提供了涉及植物重金属解毒和耐性广泛的观点和证据.     

六种农药对乙酰胆碱酯酶活性的体外毒性效应

通过体外毒性试验,研究乙酰甲胺磷、巴丹、高效氯氰菊酯、甲基硫菌灵、异菌脲和哒螨灵6种农药对乙酰胆碱酯酶活性的毒性效应。结果表明,在体外反应体系中, 6种农药均对乙酰胆碱酯酶活性有明显的抑制作用,其中乙酰甲胺磷对乙酰胆碱酯酶活性抑制率随着浓度增高先下降后上升, 1mg·L-1时抑制率最低,为10. 07%;甲基硫菌灵对乙酰胆碱酯酶活性抑制率随着浓度增高先上升后下降, 0. 125mg·L-1时抑制率最高,达60. 32%;巴丹、高效氯氰菊酯、异菌脲、哒螨灵对乙酰胆碱酯酶活性抑制率随浓度增高而上升。     

Engineered nanomaterials for biomedical applications and their toxicity: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Nanotechnology has revolutionized the field of biomedical sciences with smart approaches of imaging and treatment. This transformation has led to the development...     

QSAR models for predicting the toxicity of halogenated phenols to Tetrahymena

Halogenated phenols are industrial pollutants which may cause serious damage to the environment. In this work, a two-dimensional (2D) and two three-dimensional (3D) quantitative structure–activity relationship models for the toxicity prediction of halogenated phenols in Tetrahymena were developed. The structural factors that mainly influence toxicity were explored, agreeing with previously reported data. The results obtained with the 3D model were in agreement with those obtained with the 2D model. According to our findings, several new molecules with different predicted activities were designed.     

Relating chronic toxicity responses to population-level effects: A comparison of population-level parameters for three salmon species as a function of low-level toxicity

Standard laboratory toxicity tests assess the physiological responses of individual organisms to exposure to toxic substances under controlled conditions. Time and space restrictions often prevent the assessment of population-level responses to a toxic substance. Contaminants can affect various biological functions (e.g. growth, fecundity or behavior), which may alter different demographic traits, leading to population-level impacts. In this study, immune suppression, reproductive dysfunction and somatic growth impairment were examined using life history matrix models for coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Our intent was to gauge the relative magnitude of response to toxic effects among species and between life history stages, not provide a specific estimate of population growth rate or abundance. Effects due to immune suppression were modeled as reductions in age-specific survival. Toxic impacts on reproductive function were modeled as a 10% reduction in reproductive contribution for all reproductively mature age groups. Model runs that examined the effect of somatic growth reduction on population parameters incorporated both survival and reproductive impacts. All impacts were modeled as 10% reductions in the affected population demographic parameters. First-year survival and reproductive impacts produced similar population growth rates (λ), but resulted in different sensitivity and stable age distributions. Modeled somatic growth reduction produced additive effects on survival and reproduction. Toxic stressors producing similar changes in λ did not necessarily produce similar changes in the age distributions. Sensitivity and elasticity analyses demonstrated that changes to the first-year survival rate produced the greatest per-unit effect on λ for each species. Alteration in abundance of mature females also strongly influenced λ. Differences observed between species showed that the number of reproductive ages and time to reproductive maturity were important components for population-level responses. These results emphasize the importance of linking toxicity responses at low concentrations to the demographic traits they affect, and help to highlight the toxicity tests that are more suitable for assessing impacts on the focal species. Additionally, life history modeling is a useful tool for developing testable hypotheses regarding impacts on specific populations as well as for conducting comparisons between populations.     

珍稀濒危植物评价分级专家系统研究

开列珍稀濒危植物的清单并划分其保护序列，是生物多样性保护的一项最基本的工作。本文通过对珍稀濒危植物评价分级指标的研究，以评价指标体系为基础，并引入专家系统方法，建立了珍稀濒危植物评价分级专家系统。该系统模拟人类专家的思维过程，将有助于把珍稀濒危植物优先保护级别的划分，由定性划分提高到定量定性相结合的水平。