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Effects and mechanism of acid rain on plant chloroplast ATP synthase

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Abstract

Acid rain can directly or indirectly affect plant physiological functions, especially photosynthesis. The enzyme ATP synthase is the key in photosynthetic energy conversion, and thus, it affects plant photosynthesis. To clarify the mechanism by which acid rain affects photosynthesis, we studied the effects of acid rain on plant growth, photosynthesis, chloroplast ATP synthase activity and gene expression, chloroplast ultrastructure, intracellular H+ level, and water content of rice seedlings. Acid rain at pH 4.5 remained the chloroplast structure unchanged but increased the expression of six chloroplast ATP synthase subunits, promoted chloroplast ATP synthase activity, and increased photosynthesis and plant growth. Acid rain at pH 4.0 or less decreased leaf water content, destroyed chloroplast structure, inhibited the expression of six chloroplast ATP synthase subunits, decreased chloroplast ATP synthase activity, and reduced photosynthesis and plant growth. In conclusion, acid rain affected the chloroplast ultrastructure, chloroplast ATPase transcription and activity, and P n by changing the acidity in the cells, and thus influencing the plant growth and development. Finally, the effects of simulated acid rain on the test indices were found to be dose-dependent.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financial support of the Natural Science Foundation of China (31170477, 21371100, 21501068), the National Water Pollution Control and Management Technology Major Project (2012ZX07101_013), the Research and Innovation Project for Postgraduate of Higher Education Institutions of Jiangsu Province in 2014 (KYLX_1160), and Ph.D. Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (20130093120006). We thank the LetPub (www.letpub.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Anaerobic Biotechnology, College of Environment and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Jingwen Sun, Huiqing Hu, Yueli Li, Lihong Wang & Qing Zhou

  2. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210046, China

    Xiaohua Huang

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  1. Jingwen Sun
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  2. Huiqing Hu
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  3. Yueli Li
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  4. Lihong Wang
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  5. Qing Zhou
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  6. Xiaohua Huang
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Correspondence to Qing Zhou or Xiaohua Huang.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Sun, J., Hu, H., Li, Y. et al. Effects and mechanism of acid rain on plant chloroplast ATP synthase. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 18296–18306 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7016-3

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