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Arsenic Species Uptake and Subcellular Distribution in Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara as Influenced by Aquatic pH

Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology volume 92, pages 478–482 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara, a widely distributed submerged aquatic plant, is a promising species for arsenic (As) removal from contaminated water. We investigated the effects of pH on the accumulation, subcellular distribution and detoxification of As in V. natans. The results showed that the optimum pH for submerged V. natans growth is close to 7.0. The accumulation of As in the plant increased with the increase of pH (p < 0.05). This may have been due to arsenic/phosphate transporters with a higher affinity for the more highly electronegative AsO4 3− than for HAsO4 2− and H2AsO4 −. After As(V) was accumulated by plants, more than 80 % was reduced to As(III), but As reduction decreased with increased pH. The majority of accumulated As and reduced As(III) (47 %–66 %) was found in the vacuoles. Higher As concentrations in vacuoles could be considered as an important mechanism for As detoxification in submerged plants.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (201203045) and the National Natural Science Foundation project of China (41171258).

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  1. Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Subtropical Soil and Plant Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Guoliang Chen, Xingmei Liu, Jianming Xu, Philip C. Brookes & Jianjun Wu

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  1. Guoliang Chen
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  2. Xingmei Liu
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  3. Jianming Xu
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  4. Philip C. Brookes
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  5. Jianjun Wu
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Correspondence to Xingmei Liu or Jianjun Wu.

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Chen, G., Liu, X., Xu, J. et al. Arsenic Species Uptake and Subcellular Distribution in Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara as Influenced by Aquatic pH. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 92, 478–482 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-013-1195-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-013-1195-0

Keywords

  • Arsenic
  • Detoxification
  • Phytoremediation
  • Submerged plant