The response and tolerance mechanisms of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) exposed to nickel in a spiked soil system

Jun Zhao; Cong Lu; Muhammad Tariq; Qinran Xiao; Wei Zhang; Kai Huang; Qiang Lu; Kuangfei Lin; Zaochang Liu

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.01.119

The response and tolerance mechanisms of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) exposed to nickel in a spiked soil system

Chemosphere. 2019 May:222:399-406. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.01.119. Epub 2019 Jan 29.

Authors

Jun Zhao¹, Cong Lu², Muhammad Tariq³, Qinran Xiao¹, Wei Zhang⁴, Kai Huang³, Qiang Lu³, Kuangfei Lin³, Zaochang Liu⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China.
² State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China; Shangtex Architectural Design Research Institute, Shanghai, 200060, China.
³ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China.
⁴ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China. Electronic address: wzhang@ecust.edu.cn.
⁵ Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, 201106, China. Electronic address: lzc@sagc.org.cn.

PMID: 30711729
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.01.119

Abstract

Nickel contamination may lead to the destruction of food, ecological safety and its toxicity to plants remains to be studied in depth. In our present study, the translocation factors (TF_{soil to root} and TF_{root to shoot}) revealed a significant logarithmic decline with the increase of Ni exposure. In lettuce roots, Ni_HAC played an important protective role against high Ni stress and the ratio of Ni with high activity (Ni_E and Ni_W) in root decreased with the addition of Ni. The activities of antioxidant enzymes (CAT, POD and SOD) in the lettuce roots were increased and might be the way for lettuce to adapt Ni stress. CAT and POD can be great indicators of Ni pollution exhibiting better dose-effect relationships with Ni. Under high Ni stress, lettuce roots contained higher levels of MDA suffering greater pressure than shoots. Expression levels of gene GST 23-like indicated a remarkable (P < 0.05) down-regulation and then this trend would be alleviated after high Ni exposure, and it was positively correlated with GST concentrations (R² = 0.704). We believe that our research would open up the new avenues for effective understanding ecological risks of Ni.

Keywords: Chemical forms; Enzymes; Gene; Lactuca sativa L.; Nickel.

MeSH terms

Antioxidants / metabolism
Drug Tolerance*
Lactuca / drug effects*
Nickel / pharmacology*
Plant Roots / enzymology
Soil / chemistry
Soil Pollutants / pharmacology
Stress, Physiological

Substances

Antioxidants
Soil
Soil Pollutants
Nickel