Lead tolerance and physiological adaptation mechanism in roots of accumulating and non-accumulating ecotypes of Sedum alfredii

Background, aim and scope

Lead (Pb) accumulation in soils affects plants primarily through their root systems. The aim of this study was to investigate early symptoms of the loss of membrane integrity and lipid peroxidation in root tissues and physiological adaptation mechanism to Pb in accumulating ecotypes (AE) and non-accumulating ecotypes (NAE) of Sedum alfredii under Pb stress in hydroponics.

Methods and results

Histochemical in situ analyses, fluorescence imaging, and normal physiological analysis were used in this study. Pb accumulation in roots of both AE and NAE increased linearly with increasing Pb levels (0?C200???M), and a significant difference between both ecotypes was noted. Both loss of plasma membrane integrity and lipid peroxidation in root tissues became serious with increasing Pb levels, maximum tolerable Pb level was 25 and 100???M for NAE and AE, respectively. Pb supplied at a toxic level caused a burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in root cells in both ecotypes. However, the root cells of AE had inherently higher activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (POD), and lipoxygenase (LOX) in control plants, and the induction response of these antioxidant enzymes occurred at lower Pb level in AE than NAE. AE plants maintained higher ascorbic acid and H₂O₂ concentrations in root cells than NAE when exposed to different Pb levels, and Pb induced more increase in dehydroascorbate (DHA), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in AE than NAE roots.

Discussion and conclusion

Results indicate that histochemical in situ analyses of root cell death and lipid peroxidation under Pb short-term stress was sensitive, reliable, and fast. Higher tolerance in roots of accumulating ecotype under Pb stress did depend on effective free oxygen scavenging by making complex function of both constitutively higher activities and sensitive induction of key antioxidant enzymes in root cells of S. alfredii.     

Effect of factors on decolorization of azo dye methyl orange by oxone/natural sunlight in aqueous solution

Purpose  

The oxone process for azo dye decolorization has drawbacks such as difficulties with reuse, risks of secondary pollution, and high costs associated with UV irradiation. This study aims to explore the use of oxone for decolorization in the absence of catalyst and under natural sunlight conditions (i.e., oxone/natural sunlight system) and evaluate the impacts of operating parameters (reagent dosage, initial methyl orange (MO) concentration, and initial pH) and coexisting substances (humic acid, NO₃⁻, metal ions) on the system’s decolorization efficiency.     

Biodegradation of high molecular weight PAHs using isolated yeast mixtures: application of meta-genomic methods for community structure analyses

Bioaugmentation for the removal of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from wastewater using bacteria and yeasts is considered environment-friendly and a cost-effective technique. The effectiveness of this biodegradation system depends on the stability of inoculated microorganisms and the availability of nutrients. This study is aimed to investigate the removal of high molecular weight (HMW)-PAHs from biologically treated produced water using different biological systems. Three systems, inoculated with activated sludge (AS), the mixture of five yeast strains (MY), and the mixture of AS and the five yeast strains (SY), respectively, were constructed, and their performance for the removal of HMW-PAHs was compared over 10 weeks. The effluent of the biologically treated produced water from an oilfield was used as the influent after chrysene and benzo(a)pyrene were spiked as HMW-PAHs. Polymerase chain reaction-based denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques were used to examine the changes in the structures and abundances of the bacterial and yeast communities in these three systems. Only SY and MY systems were capable to remove chrysene (90.7 % and 98.5 %, respectively) and benzo(a)pyrene (80.7 % and 95.2 %, respectively). PCR-DGGE analysis confirmed that all of the five yeast strains inoculated remained in the SY and MY systems, while FISH results showed that the relative abundance of yeast in the SY and MY systems (10.6 % to 21.9 %, respectively) were significantly higher than AS system (2.3 % to 7.8 %, respectively). The relative abundances of the catechol 2,3-dioxygenase (C23O) indicated that the copy number ratios of benzene ring cleavage gene C23O in the yeast amended systems were much higher than that in the AS system. In this study, all of the three systems were effective in removing the low molecular weight (LMW)-PAHs, while HMW-PAHs including chrysene and benzo(a)pyrene were efficiently removed by MY and SY systems, not by AS system. The high HMW-PAHs removal in the MY and SY bioaugmentation systems possibly attributed to the inoculation of the mixed yeast culture. By combining the PCR-DGGE results with the FISH analyses, it was found that yeast probably consisting mainly of the five inoculated strains inhabited in the two bioaugmentation systems as a dominant population. The relatively higher performance of the SY system might be attributed to the suspended growth type which permitted a more efficient contact between microbial cells and contaminants. The bioaugmentation systems (SY and MY) were successfully established by inoculating with five nonindigenous yeast strains and demonstrated high performance in removal of HMW-PAHs.     

Harvesting of Chlorella sp. using hollow fiber ultrafiltration

Introduction

The suitability of the application of ultrafiltration (UF) to harvest Chlorella sp. from the culture medium was examined. We investigated the effects of two improved UF system, forward air?Cwater flushing and backwash with permeate, on the concentration process.

Materials and methods

Backwash with permeate was selected as an optimization of the improved UF system, which was more effective for permeate flux recovery. Moreover, the hollow fiber UF system by adding periodical backwash with permeate was examined for Chlorella sp. harvesting.

Results and discussion

It was found that Chlorella sp. could be concentrated with high recovery in a lab-scale experiment. An overall algal biomass recovery of above 90% was achieved when the volume concentration factor was 10. For an original biomass of 1.3?±?0.05?g/L, 1?min backwash followed by 20?min forward concentrating was more effective, which resulted in a recovery of 94% and a high average flux of 30.3?L/m²/h. In addition, the algal recovery was highly correlated to the volume concentration factor and the initial biomass. A high concentration factor or a high initial biomass resulted in a low biomass recovery.     

纤维素降解细菌筛选及降解特性分析

基于获得高效纤维素降解细菌的目的,通过LB培养基的培养以及刚果红培养基的筛选,从牛粪堆肥中筛选获得2株高效纤维素降解细菌。经鉴定,分别为枯草芽胞杆菌(Bacillus subtilis)和地衣芽胞杆菌(Bacillus licheniformis)。所筛选得到的菌种具有很高的滤纸降解能力,可在6d内使滤纸剧烈崩溃,振摇成均匀糊状;其中,地衣芽胞杆菌的羧甲基纤维素钠酶活峰值在发酵第4天达到峰值(237U/g)。     

改性多壁碳纳米管对水中Cd~（2＋）的去除

为了增加多壁碳纳米管（multiwall carbon nanotubers,MWNTs）对水中Cd2＋的吸附量,使用混酸对多壁碳纳米管进行氧化处理,采用红外光谱进行结果表征,并探讨了吸附时间、pH值和MWNTs的使用量、Cd2＋的浓度及干扰离子对镉离子吸附的影响。结果表明,吸附时间为1.5 h、pH为5.3、吸附效果最佳,随MWNTs量的增加Cd2＋去除量增加,共存的阳离子会降低对Cd2＋的吸附效果,对Cd2＋的吸附符合Longmuir吸附定律。研究同时表明,pH小于2时Cd2＋能容易从碳纳米管上解吸。初步探讨了Cd2＋吸附机制。     

芘高效降解菌ZQ_5的培养条件及无机元素对其降解效率的影响

以从我国最大的石油污水灌区之一——沈抚灌区污染土壤分离到的以芘为惟一碳源、能源生长的高效降解菌株ZQ5为实验材料,通过对菌株ZQ5培养条件的优化,以及采用摇瓶振荡培养方法测定菌株ZQ5对不同浓度芘的降解率,表明：菌株ZQ5在30℃振荡培养16 d后对150 mg/L芘的降解率为90.31%。通过模拟稻田施用N、P和K肥等的土壤环境,探索了无机营养元素对降解菌ZQ5降解能力的影响,发现土壤中混合加入N、P和K无机营养元素的降解率能达到82%以上,比单加某种营养元素对降解菌ZQ5的降解效果好。本研究结果可以指导稻田PAHs的原位生物修复。     

Second-order chlorine decay and trihalomethanes formation in a pilot-scale water distribution systems

It is well known that model-building of chlorine decay in real water distribution systems is difficult because chlorine decay is influenced by many factors (e.g., bulk water demand, pipe-wall demand, piping material, flow velocity, and residence time). In this paper, experiments were run to investigate the kinetic model of chlorine decay and the formation model of trihalomethanes (THMs) in pilot-scale water distribution systems. Experimental results show that the rate constants of chlorine decay, including wall decay and bulk decay, increasing with temperature. Moreover, the kinetic model of chlorine decay and the formation model of THMs describe experiment data of pilot-scale water distribution systems. The effect of different piping material on chlorine decay and THMs formation were also investigated. The rate constants of chlorine decay are ranked in order: stainless steel pipe, ductile iron pipe, and last, polyethelene pipe because wall decay is the largest in stainless steel pipe than that in other piping material. Correspondingly, the rate of THMs formation follows the order of stainless steel pipe, ductile iron pipe, and last, polyethelene pipe because of less chlorine in bulk water reacting with the trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP).     

生物通风技术修复柴油污染土壤的土柱模拟实验

生物通风技术是将土壤气相抽提和生物降解结合起来的原位强迫氧化降解方法,对于修复因地下储油罐泄漏引起的土壤污染具有广阔的应用前景。通过室内土柱模拟柴油泄漏污染土壤,分析了不同历时残余总石油烃(total pe-troleum hydrocarbon,TPH)的平衡分布规律以及土壤中不同深度柴油量、总柴油量的变化。结果表明:(1)各柱残余TPH剖面分布差异的原因受土柱的初始装填情况的影响较大;(2)残余TPH平衡分布曲线呈双峰型的土柱,柴油的去除主要以挥发作用及生物降解作用为主;(3)挥发作用主要是由通风孔隙体积数及土壤含水率来影响的;重力作用则主要是由初始油浓度、土壤含水率、C∶N∶P影响的;除通风方式外,其余4个因素都对生物降解作用有影响;(4)初始油浓度较大,土壤含水率较小的柱8和柱11,生物降解作用最明显,柴油去除效果最好。该成果可为生物通风过程的强化提供理论依据。