Combining microbiome and pseudotargeted metabolomics revealed the alleviative mechanism of Cupriavidus sp. WS2 on the cadmium toxicity in Vicia unijuga A.Br

Xuefeng Yuan; Dandan Wu; Dingguo Zhang; Chunyu He; Zilong Wang; Wenqian Xu; Na Shou; Keyi Fu; Mingyuan Yue; Xin Zhang; Zunji Shi

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123040

Combining microbiome and pseudotargeted metabolomics revealed the alleviative mechanism of Cupriavidus sp. WS2 on the cadmium toxicity in Vicia unijuga A.Br

Environ Pollut. 2024 Feb 1:342:123040. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123040. Epub 2023 Nov 26.

Authors

Xuefeng Yuan¹, Dandan Wu¹, Dingguo Zhang², Chunyu He¹, Zilong Wang¹, Wenqian Xu¹, Na Shou¹, Keyi Fu¹, Mingyuan Yue¹, Xin Zhang³, Zunji Shi⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
² College of biological and Geographical Sciences, Yili Normal University, Yining, 835000, China.
³ Inspection center of Wensu County, Xinjiang, 843100, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. Electronic address: shizj@lzu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38016587
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123040

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) pollution is one of the most severe toxic metals pollution in grassland. Vicia unijuga (V. unijuga) A.Br. planted nearby the grassland farming are facing the risk of high Cd contamination. Here, we investigated the beneficial effects of a highly Cd tolerant rhizosphere bacterium, Cupriavidus sp. WS2, on Cd contaminated V. unijuga. Through plot experiments, we set up four groups of treatments: the control group (without WS2 or Cd), the Cd group (with only Cd addition), the WS2 group (with only WS2 addition), and the WS2/Cd group (with WS2 and Cd addition), and analyzed the changes in physiological indicators, rhizosphere microorganisms, and stem and leaf metabolites of V. unijuga. Results of physiological indicators indicated that Cupriavidus sp. WS2 had strong absorption and accumulation capacity of Cd, exogenous addition of strain WS2 remarkably decreased the Cd concentrations, and increased the plant heights, the biomass, the total protein concentrations, the chlorophyll contents and the photosynthetic rate in stems and leaves of V. unijuga under Cd stress. Cd treatment increased the abundance of Cd tolerant bacterial genera in rhizosphere microbiome, but these genera were down-regulated in the WS2/Cd group. Pseudotargeted metabolomic results showed that six common differential metabolites associated with antioxidant stress were increased after co-culture with WS2. In addition, WS2 activated the antioxidant system including glutathione (GSH) and catalase (CAT), reduced the contents of oxidative stress markers including malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in V. unijuga under Cd stress. Taken together, this study revealed that Cupriavidus sp.WS2 alleviated the toxicity of V. unijuga under Cd exposure by activating the antioxidant system, increasing the antioxidant metabolites, and reducing the oxidative stress markers.

Keywords: Cadmium; Oxidative stress response; Pseudotargeted metabolomics; Rhizosphere microbiome; Vicia unijuga A.Br..

MeSH terms

Antioxidants / metabolism
Cadmium / metabolism
Cupriavidus* / metabolism
Glutathione / metabolism
Hydrogen Peroxide / metabolism
Oxidative Stress
Plant Leaves
Plant Roots / metabolism
Vicia* / metabolism

Substances

Antioxidants
Cadmium
Hydrogen Peroxide
Glutathione