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A comprehensive study of the impact of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contamination on salt marsh plants Spartina alterniflora: implication for plant-microbe interactions in phytoremediation

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Abstract

These pot experiments aimed to investigate the effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on plant uptake, rhizophere, endophytic bacteria, and phytoremediation potentials of contaminated sediments. Salt marsh plant Spartina alterniflora was selected and cultivated in phenanthrene (PHE)- and pyrene (PYR)-contaminated sediments (for 70 days). The results indicated that the amount of PHE removed from the sediments ranged from 13 to 36 %, while PYR ranged from 11 to 30 %. In rhizophere sediment, dehydrogenase activities were significantly (P < 0.05) enhanced by higher concentration of PHE treatments, while polyphenol oxidase activities were prohibited more than 10 % in non-rhizophere sediment. Compared with the control, PHE treatments had also significantly (P < 0.05) lower total microbial biomass; especially for gram-negative bacteria, this decrease was more than 24 %. However, the PYR treatments had little effect on the dehydrogenase, polyphenol oxidase, and total phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) biomass. The greatest abundance of PAH-ring hydroxylating dioxygenases isolated from gram-negative bacteria (PAH-RHDα-GN) of rhizoplane and endophyte in roots were found at high concentration of PHE treatments and increased by more than 100- and 3-fold, respectively. These results suggested that PAH pollution would result in the comprehensive effect on S. alterniflora, whose endophytic bacteria might play important roles in the phytoremediation potential of PAH-contaminated sediments.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.41006064), the Fujian Youth Science Foundation (No.2012 J05081), the Natural Science Foundation of Ningbo City (NO. 2014A610100) and the State Scholarships Foundation (No.201304910080). We also thank Prof. Shen Yu and Dr. Wenjian Lao comments, Jing Ding and Dr. Bo Xu for seedlings culture, Dr. Yongshan Chen, Jinbo Gao and Jun Ma for sediment sampling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1799 Jimei Road, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Youwei Hong, Jinsheng Chen, Jianqiang Su & Hu Li

  2. Xiamen Huaxia Vocational College, Xiamen, 361024, China

    Dan Liao

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Youwei Hong

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Hu Li

  5. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, 25120, Peshawar, Pakistan

    Sardar Khan

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  1. Youwei Hong
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Correspondence to Youwei Hong.

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Hong, Y., Liao, D., Chen, J. et al. A comprehensive study of the impact of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contamination on salt marsh plants Spartina alterniflora: implication for plant-microbe interactions in phytoremediation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 7071–7081 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3912-6

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