Programmed responses of different life-stages of the seagrass Ruppia sinensis to copper and cadmium exposure

Ruiting Gu; Haiying Lin; Yi Zhou; Xiaoyue Song; Shaochun Xu; Shidong Yue; Yu Zhang; Shuai Xu; Xiaomei Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123875

Programmed responses of different life-stages of the seagrass Ruppia sinensis to copper and cadmium exposure

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Feb 5:403:123875. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123875. Epub 2020 Sep 8.

Authors

Ruiting Gu¹, Haiying Lin², Yi Zhou³, Xiaoyue Song⁴, Shaochun Xu¹, Shidong Yue¹, Yu Zhang¹, Shuai Xu¹, Xiaomei Zhang⁵

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; CAS Engineering Laboratory for Marine Ranching, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China. Electronic address: yizhou@qdio.ac.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou 310012, China.
⁵ CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; CAS Engineering Laboratory for Marine Ranching, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.

PMID: 33264947
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123875

Abstract

Seagrass meadows are recognized as crucial and are among the most vulnerable habitats worldwide. The aquatic plant genus Ruppia is tolerant of a wide salinity range, and high concentrations of trace metals. However, the tolerance of its early life stages to such trace metal exposure is unclear. Thus, the current study investigated the trace metal-absorbing capacity of three different life-history stages of Ruppia sinensis, a species that is widely distributed in China, by observing toxic symptoms at the individual, subcellular, and transcription levels. The seedling period was the most vulnerable, with visible toxic effects at the individual level in response to 50 μM copper and 500 μM cadmium after 4 days of exposure. The highest concentrations of trace metals occurred in the vacuoles and cytoplasmic structures of aboveground tissues. Genes related to signal identification and protein processing were significantly downregulated after 4 days of exposure to copper and cadmium. These results provide information relating to the strategies evolved by R. sinensis to absorb and isolate trace elements, and highlight the phytoremediation potential of this species.

Keywords: Bioremediation; Cadmium; Copper; Different life stage; Ruppia; Subcellular accumulation; Transcription.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Alismatales*
Biodegradation, Environmental
Cadmium / analysis
Cadmium / toxicity
China
Copper* / analysis
Copper* / toxicity

Substances

Cadmium
Copper