UV-B radiation increased the sensitivity of Tibetan soil cyanobacterium Loriellopsis cavernicola to the herbicide glyphosate

Abstract

The high concentrations of herbicide and UV-B radiation are two stresses for Tibetan soil microorganisms, but there is limited information about the combined effects of herbicide and UV-B radiation on their levels of stress. In this study, the Tibetan soil cyanobacterium Loriellopsis cavernicola was used to investigate the combined inhibitory effect of the herbicide glyphosate and UV-B radiation on the cyanobacterial photosynthetic electron transport through an analysis of the photosynthetic activity, photosynthetic pigments, chlorophyll fluorescence and antioxidant system activity. The results demonstrated that treatment with herbicide or UV-B radiation and the combination of both stresses caused a decrease in the photosynthetic activity, interfered with the photosynthetic electron transport, and caused the accumulation of oxygen radicals and the degradation of photosynthetic pigments. In contrast, the combined treatment of glyphosate and UV-B radiation had a synergistic effect, i.e., the sensitivity of cyanobacteria to glyphosate increased in the presence of UV-B radiation, which caused the photosynthesis of cyanobacteria to have a greater impact. Since cyanobacteria are the primary producers of soil ecosystems, a high intensity of UV-B radiation in the plateau areas could enhance the inhibition of glyphosate on cyanobacteria, which could affect the ecological health and sustainable development of plateau soils.