Authors: N V Campos M E Loureiro A A Azevedo
Publish Date: 2014/01/12
Volume: 21, Issue: 8, Pages: 5586-5596
Abstract
We have identified new arsenictolerant plant species Borreria verticillata Rubiaceae that has mine and nonmine populations at a highly contaminated site CS and an uncontaminated site UCS respectively in Brazil Plants of B verticillata from both sites were cultivated at different As and P concentrations At low P concentration CS plants showed reduced As uptake higher P translocation to shoots higher constitutive levels of phenolic compounds in roots and higher tolerance to this metalloid At the lowest P and highest As concentration CS plants showed higher biomass In addition CS plants showed higher P uptake in the absence of As suggesting that more efficient P translocation could contribute more to tolerance than decreased As uptake In contrast at low P concentration UCS plants showed higher As content in shoot and root increase in phenol levels in roots reduction in dry biomass and decrease of the effective efficiency of photochemical reactions and the electron transport rate Under higher P concentrations the decrease in As uptake was similar in both populations The differences between the two populations with respect to As and P uptake suggest that altered kinetic properties or expression of P transporters contribute to higher As tolerance in B verticillata from CS As a ruderal and Astolerant plant B verticillata could be successfully used for the revegetation of contaminated soils
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