Bioassays for Soil Contamination Using the Legume Root Nodule Symbiosis

  • Dietrich Werner
  • Heike Neumann
  • Petra Scheidemann
  • Anne Bode-Kirchhoff
  • Astrid Wetzel
Chapter

Abstract

A new biotest system for ecotoxicological evaluation of soil pollutants was developed, using the symbiosis of Rhizobium meliloti strains with Medicago sativa cultivars, with the number of nodules formed as effect parameter. The development of the test system is described. Soil contaminating substances such as heavy metals, nitroaromatic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), reduced nodulation without damage to the plants and bacteria as separate units at distinct concentration levels. A dose-responsive decrease in nodulation was especially found after application of cadmium ions, sodium salts of arsenate and arsenite, arsenic pentoxide, and lead nitrate. The dose response curves were used to calculate EC values. EC50 values (50% inhibition) for cadmium compounds range from 1.5 to 9.5.tM. Arsenic compounds result in EC50 from 2.6 to 20.1 μM. Sensitivity, reproducibility, and reliability of this test system is discussed and compared to other established biotests such as the LumisTox-test with the example of nitroaromatic compounds such as TNT, 2,4-DNT, 2,6-DNT, and 4-ADNT.

Keywords

Arsenic Compound Nitroaromatic Compound Nodule Symbiosis Cadmium Compound Ecotoxicological Evaluation 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1999

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dietrich Werner
    • 1
  • Heike Neumann
    • 1
  • Petra Scheidemann
    • 1
  • Anne Bode-Kirchhoff
    • 1
  • Astrid Wetzel
    • 1
  1. 1.Fachgebiet Zellbiologie und Angewandte Botanik Fachbereich BiologiePhilipps-Universität MarburgMarburgGermany

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