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Toxicological effects of environmentally relevant lead and zinc in halophyte Suaeda salsa by NMR-based metabolomics

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Abstract

Lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) are two typical metal contaminants with high levels in both seawater and sediment in the intertidal zones of the Bohai Sea. Suaeda salsa is the pioneer halophyte plant in the intertidal zones of the Bohai Sea. In the present work, the short (1 week) and long term (1 month) toxicological effects of environmentally relevant concentrations of Pb and Zn were characterized in S. salsa using NMR-based metabolomics combined with antioxidant enzyme activities. After metal exposure for 1 week, no significant metabolic responses were detected in root tissues of S. salsa. The significant metabolic responses included the increase of isocaproate, glucose and fructose, and decrease of malate, citrate and sucrose in root tissues of S. salsa exposed to Pb for 1 month. The increased phosphocholine and betaine, and decreased choline were uniquely found in Zn-exposed samples. The metabolic changes including decreased malate, citrate and sucrose were detected in both Pb and Zn-exposed groups. These metabolic biomarkers revealed that both Pb and Zn exposures could induce osmotic stress and disturbances in energy metabolism in S. salsa after exposures for 1 month. Overall, this work demonstrates that metabolomics can be used to elucidate toxicological effects of environmentally relevant metal contaminants using halophyte S. salsa as the bioindicator.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Project of National Science & Technology Pillar Program in “12th Five Year” Period (2011BAC02B01) and The 100 Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. We thank Dr. Mark Viant (School of Bioscience, The University of Birmingham) for use of the software ProMetab.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Yantai, 264003, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Huifeng Wu, Xiaoli Liu, Jianmin Zhao & Junbao Yu

  2. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, YICCAS, Yantai, 264003, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Huifeng Wu, Xiaoli Liu, Jianmin Zhao & Junbao Yu

  3. The Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoli Liu

  4. Alkali Soil Natural Environmental Science Center, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China

    Qiuying Pang

  5. Key Laboratory of Saline-alkali Vegetation Ecology Restoration in Oil Field, Ministry of Education, Harbin, 150040, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China

    Qiuying Pang

  6. Department of Electronic Science, Fujian Key Laboratory of Plasma and Magnetic Resonance, State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, People’s Republic of China

    Jianghua Feng

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  1. Huifeng Wu
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  2. Xiaoli Liu
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  3. Jianmin Zhao
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Correspondence to Huifeng Wu.

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Wu, H., Liu, X., Zhao, J. et al. Toxicological effects of environmentally relevant lead and zinc in halophyte Suaeda salsa by NMR-based metabolomics. Ecotoxicology 21, 2363–2371 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-012-0992-2

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