Poster: Heavy metals & phytoremediation

Abs # 62: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon stress responses in Arabidopsis thaliana

Presenter:	Colón-Carmona, Adán , adan.colon-carmona@umb.edu
Authors	Colón-Carmona, Adán  (A)   Tabuchi, Tomoko  (A)   Alkio, Merianne  (A)   Marschall, Annika  (A)   Wang, Xuchen  (A)   Chen, Robert  (A)
Affiliations:	(A): University of Massachusetts Boston

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic organic compounds that originate from fossil fuel burning, power plants, wood-treating facilities, and petroleum based manufacturing. In an effort to develop PAH phytoremediation strategies, we studied the mustard model system Arabidopsis thaliana for its ability to respond to PAHs. We will present physiological responses of plants grown on phenanthrene, a 3-ring aromatic. Responses include reduction in growth, decreased chlorophyll content and development of brown lesions on aerial tissue, similar to the spots developed during a plant’s immune response. Evidence for PAH internalization was obtained by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and fluorescence spectral analysis, which revealed that approximately 3% of the phenanthrene in the media was incorporated into plant tissue. Phenanthrene exposure inhibits the production of hormones and secondary metabolites, which may explain why phenanthrene-treated plants are stunted in growth. Moreover, preliminary results on stress physiological responses with other plants suggested that other mustards internalize phenanthrene similar to Arabidopsis. Strategies to identify Arabidopsis genes that can be engineered into plants for PAH remediation and biomonitoring will also presented. Overall, data to be presented suggests that Arabidopsis can efficiently take-up and respond to PAHs, and serves as excellent model system for PAH phytoremediation studies.