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Cadmium tolerance and accumulation by two species of Iris

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Abstract

Seedlings of Iris lactea var. chinensis (Fisch.) Koidz. and I. tectorum Maxim. were subjected to 0–160 mg l−1 Cd in hydroponic system and harvested after 42 days to determine effects on root and shoot dry mass. A subset of 16-day-old seedlings was exposed to 1000 mg l−1 Cd to characterize sub-cellular localization of Cd in root cells. The Cd contents in the shoots of I. lactea var. chinensis reached 529 μg g−1 dry weight (dw) at 80 mg l−1 Cd treatment and in the shoots of I. tectorum reached 232 μg g−1 dw at 40 mg l−1 Cd treatment, without showing signs of visible toxicity. The Cd contents in the shoots of both two test species exceeded 100 μg g−1, the critical value of Cd hyperaccumulator. The indices of tolerance (ITs) of I. lactea var. chinensis were higher than those of I. tectorum under 10–160 mg l−1Cd stress. Sub-cellular localization of Cd in root cells was evaluated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Cd deposits were found in the cell walls, in the cytoplasm and on the inner surface of xylem vessels in the root tip of I. lactea var. chinensis and I. tectorum. A few cells in the root tip of I. tectorum were necrotic. The results showed that the tolerance and accumulation of Cd by I. lactea var. chinensis were higher than those of I. tectorum, suggesting that I. lactea var. chinensis has potential application in phytoremediation.

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Acknowledgments

Project financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30270940) and the Project of Advanced Agricultural Technique of Jiangsu Province, China (No. BE2003303)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing , 210095, P.R. China

    Yu-Lin Han

  2. Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Science, Nanjing, 210014, P.R. China

    Yu-Lin Han, Hai-Yan Yuan, Su-Zhen Huang, Zhi Guo & Bing Xia

  3. College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, P.R. China

    Jiguang Gu

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  1. Yu-Lin Han
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  2. Hai-Yan Yuan
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  3. Su-Zhen Huang
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Correspondence to Su-Zhen Huang.

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Han, YL., Yuan, HY., Huang, SZ. et al. Cadmium tolerance and accumulation by two species of Iris . Ecotoxicology 16, 557–563 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-007-0162-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-007-0162-0

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