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Responses and acclimation of Chinese cork oak (Quercus variabilis Bl.) to metal stress: the inducible antimony tolerance in oak trees

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Abstract

Antimony (Sb) pollution has become a pressing environmental problem in recent years. Trees have been proven to have great potential for the feasible phytomanagement; however, little is known about Sb retention and tolerance in trees. The Chinese cork oak (Quercus variabilis Bl.) is known to be capable of growth in soils containing high concentrations of Sb. This study explored in detail the retention and acclimation of Q. variabilis under moderate and high external Sb levels. Results revealed that Q. variabilis could tolerate and accumulate high Sb (1623.39 mg kg−1 DW) in roots. Dynamics of Sb retention in leaves, stems, and roots of Q. variabilis were different. Leaf Sb remained at a certain level for several weeks, while in roots and stems, Sb concentrations continued to increase. Sb damaged tree’s PSII reaction cores but elicited defense mechanism at the donor side of PSII. It affected the electron transport flow after QA − more strongly than the oxygen-evolving complex and light-harvesting pigment-protein complex II. Sb also decreased leaf chlorophyll concentrations and therefore inhibited plant growth. During acclimation to Sb toxicity, Sb concentrations in leaves, stems, and roots decreased, with photosynthetic activity and pigments recovering to normal levels by the end of the experiment. These findings suggest that Sb tolerance in Q. variabilis is inducible. Acclimation seems to be related to homeostasis of Sb in plants. Results of this study can provide useful information for trees breeding and selection of Sb phytomanagement strategies, exploiting the established ability of Q. variabilis to transport, delocalize in the leaves, and tolerate Sb pollutions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Fang-Ping Tong and Zhen-Hua Liu at the Research Institute of Forestry, Hunan Academy of Forestry, China, for their continuous support during the experiment, and to the anonymous referee for his helpful comments on this manuscript.

Compliance with ethical standards

This work was supported by the Project from Ministry of Science and Technology, China (2012BAC09B03 and 2011BAD38B0103) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No.8152032).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Xiulian Zhao, Lingyu Zheng, Jingpin Lei, Shengqing Shi, Xiang Shi, Huiqing Li, Qinghe Li, Yuan Wei, Ermei Chang, Zeping Jiang & Jianfeng Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation, State Forestry Administration, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Xiulian Zhao, Lingyu Zheng & Shengqing Shi

  3. College of Biology, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Xiulian Zhao, Xinli Xia & Weilun Yin

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  1. Xiulian Zhao
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Correspondence to Weilun Yin or Jianfeng Liu.

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Zhao, X., Zheng, L., Xia, X. et al. Responses and acclimation of Chinese cork oak (Quercus variabilis Bl.) to metal stress: the inducible antimony tolerance in oak trees. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 11456–11466 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4304-2

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