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Effects of atrazine on photosynthesis and defense response and the underlying mechanisms in Phaeodactylum tricornutum

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Abstract

Atrazine (ATZ) is a commonly used herbicide that has recently come under scrutiny due to potential environmental toxicity and contamination. In this study, we found that the administration of ATZ indeed leads to reduction of photosynthesis and oxidative stress in Phaeodactylum tricornutum at the treated doses higher than 100 μg L−1 after 48 h. We further explored the effect of ATZ on photosystem II (PSII) and gene expression of electron transport chain. Collectively, our results may suggest that ATZ entered the chloroplasts in alga depending on ATZ’s liposolubility and directly attacked on the electron transport chain, especially PSII, contributing to reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst. The increasing ROS could act as signals to induce or disturb the expression of photosynthesis-related genes, resulting in the imbalance of antioxidation and pro-oxidation in the alga.

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Acknowledgments

This work is a contribution of the Program for Natural Science Foundation of China (21277125), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LR14B070001), and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT13096). The authors thank the reviewer, Asad from College of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaocui Bai, Chongchong Sun, Hao Song, Qianqian Zhu, Yiyuan Su & Haifeng Qian

  2. College of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Xie, Haifeng Qian & Zhengwei Fu

  3. Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Bioremediation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, People’s Republic. of China

    Haifeng Qian

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  1. Xiaocui Bai
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  2. Chongchong Sun
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  4. Hao Song
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  5. Qianqian Zhu
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Correspondence to Haifeng Qian.

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Bai, X., Sun, C., Xie, J. et al. Effects of atrazine on photosynthesis and defense response and the underlying mechanisms in Phaeodactylum tricornutum . Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 17499–17507 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4923-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4923-7

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