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Impact of rhizosphere microorganisms on arsenic (As) transformation and accumulation in a traditional Chinese medical plant

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Abstract

Panax notoginseng is an important traditional medicinal plant, but the commercial value is threatened by root-rot disease caused by rhizosphere microbes and a potential health risk caused by plant arsenic (As) accumulation. Whether rhizospheric microbes isolated from P. notoginseng rhizosphere soil could impact As uptake and transport into P. notoginseng is not yet known. Among the three root-rot disease-causing pathogens Fusarium flocciferum (PG 1), Fusarium oxysporum (PG 2), and Fusarium solani (PG 3) and one root-rot disease biocontrol fungus Trichoderma koningiopsis (FC 1) and five biocontrol-exerting bacterial species Bacillus siamensis (BC 1), Delftia acidovorans (BC 2), Brevibacillus formosus (BC 3), Mortierella alpine (BC 4), and Bacillus subtilis (BC 5), one As-resistant pathogen and four biocontrol microorganisms with As-resistant ability were identified. The As-transforming ability of the identified fungi and bacteria was ranked in the order of FC 1 > PG 1 and BC 2 > BC 3 > BC 1, respectively. Then, the As-resistant biocontrol and pathogenic microbes were initiated to colonize the rhizosphere of 1-year-old P. notoginseng seedlings growing in artificially As(V)-contaminated soil to evaluate the impact of microbe inoculation on P. notoginseng As uptake and transport capacity. Concentration of As in P. notoginseng tissues decreased in the order of the sequence stem > root > leaf. Compared to treatment without colonization by microorganism, inoculation with microorganisms increased As root uptake efficiency and root As concentration, especially under treatment of inoculation by BC 2 and PG 1 + BC 2. As transport efficiency from root to stem decreased by inoculation with microorganism, especially under treatment with inoculation of BC 2 and PG 1 + BC 2. However, the impact of microorganism colonization on As stem to leaf transport efficiency was not obvious. In summary, inoculation with rhizosphere microbes may increase As accumulation in P. notoginseng root, especially when using bacteria with high As transformation ability. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the As transformation capacity before applying biological control microorganism to the rhizosphere of P. notoginseng.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Professor Christopher Rensing from Institute of Environmental Remediation and Human Health, Southwest Forestry University (Kunming, Yunnan, PR China) for his valuable comments and kind support in English editing.

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article. The original datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Funding

This work was partly supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC Nos. 3170440, 3170040, 31660004, 31570012, and 81760632).

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Author notes

  1. Jiao-Jiao Li and Long Yang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Yunnan University, No. 2 Cuihu North Road, Kunming, 650091, People’s Republic of China

    Jiao-Jiao Li, Long Yang, Zi-Hao Fu, Xue-Xiu Chang & Yu Qian

  2. Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry for Natural Resource, Ministry of Education, Yunnan Provincial Center for Research & Development of Natural Products, School of Chemical Science and Technology, Yunnan University, No. 2 Cuihu North Road, Kunming, 650091, People’s Republic of China

    Cui-Ping Miao & Li-Xing Zhao

  3. Technology Center of Kunming Customs District P. R. China, Kunming, 650000, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China

    Ya-Jun Teng

  4. Analysis and Measurements Center of Yunnan Provincial Non-ferrous Geology Bureau, Kunming, 650051, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China

    Chang-Lei Cheng

  5. Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, People’s Republic of China

    Li-Xing Zhao

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  1. Jiao-Jiao Li
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Contributions

Jiao-Jiao Li: writing—original draft, Formal analysis. Long Yang: data curation, investigation, formal analysis. Cui-Ping Miao: methodology, supervision. Ya-Jun Teng: methodology, supervision; Zi-Hao Fu: data curation, investigation; Chang-Lei Cheng: data curation, investigation; Xue-Xiu Chang: conceptualization, methodology. Yu Qian: conceptualization, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing, methodology, supervision. Li-Xing Zhao: conceptualization, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing, methodology, project administration.

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Correspondence to Yu Qian or Li-Xing Zhao.

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Li, JJ., Yang, L., Miao, CP. et al. Impact of rhizosphere microorganisms on arsenic (As) transformation and accumulation in a traditional Chinese medical plant. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 60923–60934 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14500-6

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