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Rice husks and their hydrochars cause unexpected stress response in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans: reduced transcription of stress-related genes

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Abstract

Currently, char substrates gain a lot of interest since soils amended with such substrates are being discussed to increase in fertility and productivity, water retention, and mitigation of greenhouse gases. Char substrates can be produced by carbonization of organic matter. Among different process conditions, temperature is the main factor controlling the occurrence of organic and inorganic contaminants such as phenols and furfurals, which may affect target and non-target organisms. The hydrochar produced at 200 °C contained both furfural and phenol with concentrations of 282 and 324 mg kg−1 in contrast to the 300 °C hydrochar, which contained only phenol with a concentration of 666 mg kg−1. By washing with acetone and water, these concentrations were significantly reduced. In this study, the potential toxic effects of hydrochars on the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans were investigated via gene transcription studies using the following four matrices: (i) raw rice husk, (ii) unwashed rice char, (iii) acetone/water washed rice char, and (iv) the wash water of the two rice chars produced at 200 and 300 °C via hydrothermal carbonization (HTC). Furthermore, genetically modified strains, where the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene sequence is linked to a reporter gene central in specific anti-stress regulations, were also exposed to these matrices. Transgenic worms exposed to hydrochars showed very weak, if any, fluorescence, and expression of the associated RNAs related to stress response and biotransformation genes was surprisingly downregulated. Similar patterns were also found for the raw rice husk. It is hypothesized that an unidentified chemical trigger exists in the rice husk, which is not destroyed during the HTC process. Therefore, the use of GFP transgenic nematode strains cannot be recommended as a general rapid monitoring tool for farmers treating their fields with artificial char. However, it is hypothesized that the observed reduced transcriptional response with the subsequent lack of energy-consuming stress response is an energy-saving mechanism in the exposed nematodes. If this holds true in future studies, this finding opens the window to an innovative new field of stress ecology.

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Acknowledgments

This study derived from cooperation between the ATB Potsdam and the Technological Educational Institute of Crete, both embedded in the EU COST Action TD1107 “Biochar as option for sustainable resource management.” The authors are very grateful to Christian Steinberg for his initiative and support to this study and to Ralph Menzel, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, for providing the Pcyp35A3::GFP strain. We acknowledge two anonymous reviews, helpful comments given by Markus Hecker on an earlier draft of the manuscript, and the final proofreading by Judy Libra. Furthermore, the authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ATB, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim, Max-Eyth-Allee 100, 14469, Potsdam, Germany

    Shumon Chakrabarti, Christiane Dicke & Jürgen Kern

  2. Laboratory of Freshwater and Stress Ecology, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Späthstraße 80/81, 12437, Berlin, Germany

    Shumon Chakrabarti

  3. Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Georgiou Romanou 1, 73100, Chania, Greece

    Dimitrios Kalderis

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  1. Shumon Chakrabarti
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  2. Christiane Dicke
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Correspondence to Jürgen Kern.

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Chakrabarti, S., Dicke, C., Kalderis, D. et al. Rice husks and their hydrochars cause unexpected stress response in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans: reduced transcription of stress-related genes. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 12092–12103 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4491-x

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