Artemisia selengensis is a perennial herb of the Compositae with therapeutic and economic value in China. The cadmium (Cd) accumulation mechanism and healthy risk evaluation of A. selengensis were investigated in this study. Tissue culture seedlings were obtained by plant tissue culture in vitro, and the effect of Cd stress (Cd concentration of 0.5, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 μM) on A. selengensis was studied under hydroponic conditions. The results showed that low-Cd (0.5-1 μM) stress caused a rare effect on the growth of A. selengensis seedlings, which regularly grew below the 10 μM Cd treatment concentration. The biomass growth rate of the 0.5, 1, and 5 μM treatment groups reached 105.8%, 96.6%, and 84.8% after 40 days of cultivation, respectively. In addition, when the concentration of Cd was greater than 10 μM, the plant growth was obviously inhibited, i.e., chlorosis of leaves, blackening roots, destroyed cell ultrastructure, and increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content. The root could be the main location of metal uptake, 57.8-70.8% of the Cd was concentrated in the root after 40 days of cultivation. Furthermore, the root cell wall was involved in the fixation of 49-71% Cd by subcellular extraction, and the involvement of the participating functional groups of the cell wall, such as -COOH, -OH, and -NH2, in metal uptake was assessed by FTIR analysis. Target hazard quotient (THQ) was used to assess the health risk of A. selengensis, and it was found that the edible part had no health risk only under low-Cd stress (0.5 to 1 μM) and short-term treatment (less than 20 days).
Keywords: Artemisia selengensis; cadmium; cell wall; health risk; subcellular distribution.