The Effect of Copper And Zinc Nanoparticles on the Growth Parameters, Contents of Ascorbic Acid, and Qualitative Composition of Amino Acids and Acylcarnitines in Pistia stratiotes L. (Araceae).

Olga Olkhovych,Nataliya Taran,Mykola Volkogon,Lyudmyla Batsmanova,Inna Kravchenko

doi:10.1186/s11671-016-1422-9

Olga Olkhovych, Nataliya Taran + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s11671-016-1422-9

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Abstract

The paper covers the research of copper and zinc nanoparticle effect on the content of ascorbic acid, and quantitative and qualitative composition of amino acids and acylcarnitines in Pistia stratiotes L. plants. Plant exposition to copper nanoparticles led to the decrease in (1) the amount of ascorbic acid, (2) the total content of amino acids (by 25 %), and (3) the amount of all studied amino acids except for the glycine amino acid. At this, the amount of 5-oxoproline, arginine, leucine, ornithine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, and tyrosine was two times lower than in control plants. The reduction of the contents of 8 out of 12 investigated acylcarnitines (namely C0, C2, C3, C5, C6, C8, C16, C18:1) was observed in plants under the influence of copper nanoparticles. The result of plants incubation with zinc nanoparticles was the decrease in (1) the amount of ascorbic acid, (2) the total content of amino acids (by 15 %), (3) the content of leucine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, and tyrosine (more than twice), and (4) the content of 10 acylcarnitines (C0, C2, C3, C4, C5, C10, C16, C18, C18:1, C18:2). The observed reduction in amino acid contents may negatively affect plants adaptive reactions associated with de novo synthesis of stress proteins. At the same time, the decrease in the content of acylcarnitines, responsible for fatty acid transportation, may lead to the changes in the activity and direction of lipid metabolism in plants and reduce plant’s ability to use free fatty acids as the oxidation substrate for cell reparation.

Highlights

Aquatic plants are successfully used around the world for remediation of the excessively transformed aqua systems
The aim of our study was to determine the influence of copper and zinc nanoparticles (Cu NPs and Zn NPs, respectively) on the metabolism of Pistia stratiotes in terms of its possible use for phytoremediation of industrial waters contaminated with metal nanoparticles
Growth Parameters of P. stratiotes Plants Our results indicate an ambiguous impact of the studied copper and zinc nanoparticles on growth of P. stratiotes, possessing simultaneously stimulating and inhibitory action (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Aquatic plants are successfully used around the world for remediation of the excessively transformed aqua systems. Pistia plants are known for their reclamation abilities through the accumulation of different water contaminants including heavy metals and are one of the main plant objects used for phytoremediation [11, 28]. This surface macrophyte is resistant to high concentrations of metals, possessing high growth and reproduction rates, both in artificial and natural aquatic ecosystems [10]. The increasing use of metal nanoparticles emphasizes the need in study of their toxicity and search for the potential plants that mitigate this environmental problem. It was found that the presence of nanoparticles in Olkhovych et al Nanoscale Research Letters (2016) 11:218 aqueous solution leads to the formation of reactive oxygen species, primarily hydroxyl radicals [33], which increases their toxicity

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