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Transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis provides insight into imazethapyr toxicity to non-target plants

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Abstract

Imazethapyr is a widely used imidazolinone herbicide worldwide, and its potential adverse effects on non-target plants have raised concerns. Understanding the mechanisms of imazethapyr phytotoxicity is crucial for its agro-ecological risk assessment. Here, the comprehensive molecular responses and metabolic alterations of Arabidopsis in response to imazethapyr were investigated. Our results showed that root exposure to imazethapyr inhibited shoot growth, reduced chlorophyll contents, induced photoinhibition and decreased photosynthetic activity. By non-target metabolomic analysis, we identified 75 metabolites that were significantly changed after imazethapyr exposure, and they are mainly enriched in carbohydrate, lipid and amino acid metabolism. Transcriptomic analysis confirmed that imazethapyr significantly downregulated the genes involved in photosynthetic electron transport and the carbon cycle. In detail, 48 genes in the photosynthetic lightreaction and 11 genes in Calvin cycle were downregulated. Additionally, the downregulation of genes related to electron transport in mitochondria provides strong evidence for imazethapyr inhibiting photosynthetic carbon fixation and cellular energy metabolism as one of mechanisms of toxicity. These results revealed the molecular and metabolic basis of imazethapyr toxicity on non-target plants, contributing to environmental risk assessment and mitigate negative impact of imazethapyr residues in agricultural soils.

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Data Availability

The data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

MS:

Murashige and Skoog

BCF:

Bioconcentration factor

KEGG:

Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes

VIP:

Variable importance in projection

PCA:

Principal component analysis;

DEGs:

Differentially expressed genes

GO:

Gene Ontology

Fv/Fm:

Maximal photochemical efficiency

NPQ:

Non-photochemical quenching

Y (II):

Effective photochemical quantum yield of PSII

Qp:

Photochemical quenching coefficient

qN:

Non-photochemical chlorophyll fluorescence quenching

Y(NO):

Non-regulated energy dissipation in PSII

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFD1701302), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LQ24C030003), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22006130).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Pollution Exposure and Health Intervention of Zhejiang Province, Interdisciplinary Research Academy (IRA), Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou, 310015, China

    Lijuan Liu, Ziyu Chen, Jiahui Liu & Zhongling Tian

  2. MOE Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental & Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Nan Zhang & Chengliang Sun

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  1. Lijuan Liu
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  2. Ziyu Chen
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  3. Nan Zhang
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  4. Jiahui Liu
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  6. Chengliang Sun
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Contributions

L Liu, N Zhang and Z Chen performed the experiment, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; C Sun, L Liu and Z Tian were involved in the discussion of the manuscript organization and revised the manuscript; L Liu, N Zhang, J Liu and Z Chen conceived the research plans and was involved in the discussion of the manuscript organization. All authors read and approved the final article.

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Correspondence to Chengliang Sun.

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Liu, L., Chen, Z., Zhang, N. et al. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis provides insight into imazethapyr toxicity to non-target plants. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 28368–28378 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32967-x

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