TY - JOUR
T1 - Phytoremediation potential of Arabidopsis thaliana, expressing ectopically a vacuolar proton pump, for the industrial waste phosphogypsum
AU - Khoudi, Habib
AU - Maatar, Yafa
AU - Brini, Faïçal
AU - Fourati, Amine
AU - Ammar, Najoua
AU - Masmoudi, Khaled
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments This work was supported by grant from the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology and by the Groupe Chimique Tunisien (GCT) Research Center of Sfax. The authors wish to thank Mr. J. Azaza for technical assistance, Mr F. Khmiri from the GCT Center for help with chemical analysis and Mr. L. Khoudi, MA, for English proofreading.
PY - 2013/1
Y1 - 2013/1
N2 - Phosphogypsum (PG) is a by-product of the phosphorus-fertiliser industry and represents an environmental concern since it contains pollutants such as cadmium (Cd). We have recently shown that the overexpression of a proton pump gene (TaVP1) in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) led to an enhanced Cd tolerance and accumulation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants harbouring the TaVP1 gene to phytoremediate phosphogypsum. A pot experiment was carried out under greenhouse conditions. Transgenic A. thaliana plants harbouring the TaVP1 gene were grown on various substrates containing phosphogypsum (0, 25, 50 and 100 %) for 40 days. At the end of the growth period, we examined the growth (germination, root length, fresh weight) and physiological parameters (chlorophyll and protein contents, catalase activity and proteolysis) as well as the cadmium, Mg, Ca, and P contents of the A. thaliana plants. In order to evaluate Cd tolerance of the A. thaliana lines harbouring the TaVP1 gene, an in vitro experiment was also carried out. One week-old seedlings were transferred to Murashige and Skoog agar plates containing various concentrations of cadmium; the germination, total leaf area and root length were determined. The growth and physiological parameters of all A. thaliana plants were significantly altered by PG. The germination capacity, root growth and biomass production of wild-type (WT) plants were more severely inhibited by PG compared with the TaVP1 transgenic A. thaliana lines. In addition, TaVP1 transgenic A. thaliana plants maintained a higher antioxidant capacity than the WT. Interestingly, elemental analysis of leaf material derived from plants grown on PG revealed that the transgenic A. thaliana line accumulated up to ten times more Cd than WT. Despite its higher Cd content, the transgenic A. thaliana line performed better than the WT counterpart. In vitro evaluation of Cd tolerance showed that TaVP1 transgenic A. thaliana lines were more Cd-tolerant than the WT plants. These results suggested that ectopic expression of a vacuolar proton pump in A. thaliana plants can lead to various biotechnological applications including the phytoremediation of industrial wastes.
AB - Phosphogypsum (PG) is a by-product of the phosphorus-fertiliser industry and represents an environmental concern since it contains pollutants such as cadmium (Cd). We have recently shown that the overexpression of a proton pump gene (TaVP1) in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) led to an enhanced Cd tolerance and accumulation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants harbouring the TaVP1 gene to phytoremediate phosphogypsum. A pot experiment was carried out under greenhouse conditions. Transgenic A. thaliana plants harbouring the TaVP1 gene were grown on various substrates containing phosphogypsum (0, 25, 50 and 100 %) for 40 days. At the end of the growth period, we examined the growth (germination, root length, fresh weight) and physiological parameters (chlorophyll and protein contents, catalase activity and proteolysis) as well as the cadmium, Mg, Ca, and P contents of the A. thaliana plants. In order to evaluate Cd tolerance of the A. thaliana lines harbouring the TaVP1 gene, an in vitro experiment was also carried out. One week-old seedlings were transferred to Murashige and Skoog agar plates containing various concentrations of cadmium; the germination, total leaf area and root length were determined. The growth and physiological parameters of all A. thaliana plants were significantly altered by PG. The germination capacity, root growth and biomass production of wild-type (WT) plants were more severely inhibited by PG compared with the TaVP1 transgenic A. thaliana lines. In addition, TaVP1 transgenic A. thaliana plants maintained a higher antioxidant capacity than the WT. Interestingly, elemental analysis of leaf material derived from plants grown on PG revealed that the transgenic A. thaliana line accumulated up to ten times more Cd than WT. Despite its higher Cd content, the transgenic A. thaliana line performed better than the WT counterpart. In vitro evaluation of Cd tolerance showed that TaVP1 transgenic A. thaliana lines were more Cd-tolerant than the WT plants. These results suggested that ectopic expression of a vacuolar proton pump in A. thaliana plants can lead to various biotechnological applications including the phytoremediation of industrial wastes.
KW - Arabidopsis thaliana
KW - Cadmium
KW - Industrial waste
KW - Phytoremediation
KW - Sequestration
KW - Vacuolar proton pump
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U2 - 10.1007/s11356-012-1143-2
DO - 10.1007/s11356-012-1143-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 22956112
AN - SCOPUS:84872002366
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 20
SP - 270
EP - 280
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 1
ER -