Species- and Metal-Specific Responses of the Ionome of Three Duckweed Species under Chromate and Nickel Treatments
Viktor Oláh,
Muhammad Irfan,
Zsuzsanna Barnáné Szabó,
Zsófi Sajtos,
Ágota Zsófia Ragyák,
Boglárka Döncző,
Marcel A. K. Jansen,
Sándor Szabó,
Ilona Mészáros
Affiliations
Viktor Oláh
Department of Botany, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem Square 1, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Muhammad Irfan
Department of Botany, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem Square 1, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Zsuzsanna Barnáné Szabó
Department of Botany, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem Square 1, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Zsófi Sajtos
Atomic Spectroscopy Partner Laboratory, Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem Square 1, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Ágota Zsófia Ragyák
Atomic Spectroscopy Partner Laboratory, Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem Square 1, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Boglárka Döncző
Institute for Nuclear Research (ATOMKI), Bem tér 18/c, H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary
Marcel A. K. Jansen
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, University College Cork, Distillery Fields, North Mall, T23N73K Cork, Ireland
Sándor Szabó
Department of Biology, University of Nyiregyhaza, H-4401 Nyiregyhaza, Hungary
Ilona Mészáros
Department of Botany, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem Square 1, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary
In this study, growth and ionomic responses of three duckweed species were analyzed, namely Lemna minor, Landoltia punctata, and Spirodela polyrhiza, were exposed for short-term periods to hexavalent chromium or nickel under laboratory conditions. It was found that different duckweed species had distinct ionomic patterns that can change considerably due to metal treatments. The results also show that, because of the stress-induced increase in leaf mass-to-area ratio, the studied species showed different order of metal uptake efficiency if plant area was used as unit of reference instead of the traditional dry weight-based approach. Furthermore, this study revealed that μXRF is applicable in mapping elemental distributions in duckweed fronds. By using this method, we found that within-frond and within-colony compartmentation of metallic ions were strongly metal- and in part species-specific. Analysis of duckweed ionomics is a valuable approach in exploring factors that affect bioaccumulation of trace pollutants by these plants. Apart from remediating industrial effluents, this aspect will gain relevance in food and feed safety when duckweed biomass is produced for nutritional purposes.
