Bioremediation and stress alleviation of HBCD in plant-soil by bacterial strain HBCD-sjtu

Abstract

The inherent toxic nature of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and its adverse effects pose a grave risk to both ecosystems and human health. HBCD has greatly influenced the soil-plant interface. The current investigation set out to examine the effects of strain Bacillus sp. HBCD-sjtu on HBCD degradation in soil, the morphophysiological traits, and antioxidative enzyme activity in wheat under different HBCD-stress conditions (0, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 mM HBCD). Wheat plants injected with strain HBCD-sjtu showed dramatically enhanced growth features in comparison to control plants. Plants inoculated with HBCD-sjtu showed homeostasis despite HBCD stress increasing total soluble sugars (TSS), free proline, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), protein content, malondialdehyde (MDA), and high activity of peroxidase (POD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in leaves. The formation of the new metabolite 1,5,9-cyclododecatriene (CDT) after HBCD degradation was identified on the basis of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analyses. The results indicated that HBCD-sjtu improved the growth of wheat plants under both HBCD and non-HBCD conditions. Additional research on the effect of HBCD on plant development, alongside the exploration of innovative, environmentally sustainable approaches for HBCD degradation and its conversion into alternative intermediates, could yield valuable insights and potential applications from this study.

Keywords

• HBCD-sjtu
• HBCD stress
• Malondialdehyde
• Degradation
• Intermediate