Eco-physiological response and genotoxicity induced by crude petroleum oil in the potential phytoremediator Vinca rosea L

Abstract

Background Phytoremediation is determined as an emerging green technology suitable for the safe remediation and restoration of polluted terrestrial and aquatic environments. In this study, the assessment of an ornamental plant, Vinca rosea L., as a phytoremediator of crude oil in polluted soils was conducted. In an open greenhouse experiment, plants were raised in sandy-clayey soils treated with 1, 3, 5, and 7% oil by weight. The experiment was conducted over 5 months. Results Total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) degradation percentage by V. rosea after a 5-month growth period ranged from 86.83 ± 0.44% to 59.05% ± 0.45% in soil treated with 1 and 7%, respectively. Plants raised in polluted soils demonstrated a dramatic reduction in germination rates, in addition to growth inhibition outcomes shown from decreased plant height. An increase in branching was observed with an increase in oil pollution percentages. Moreover, the phytomass allocated to the leaves was higher, while the phytomass witnessed lower values for fine roots, flowering and fruiting when compared to the controls. Apart from the apparent morphological changes, there was a decrease in chlorophyll a/b ratio, which was inversely proportional to the oil pollution level. The contents of carotenoids, tannins, phenolics, flavonoids, and antioxidant capacity were elevated directly with an increase in oil pollution level. The start codon-targeted (SCoT) polymorphisms and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) primers showed the molecular variations between the control and plants raised in polluted soils. The genetic similarity and genomic DNA stability were negatively affected by increased levels of crude oil pollution. Conclusions The ability of V. rosea to degrade TPH and balance the increased or decreased plant functional traits at the macro and micro levels of plant structure in response to crude oil pollution supports the use of the species for phytoremediation of crude oil-polluted sites. The genotoxic effects of crude oil on V. rosea still require further investigation. Further studies are required to demonstrate the mechanism of phenolic, flavonoid, and antioxidant compounds in the protection of plants against crude oil pollution stress. Testing different molecular markers and studying the differentially expressed genes will help understand the behavior of genetic polymorphism and stress-resistant genes in response to crude oil pollution.

Assessment of Vinca rosea (Apocynaceae) Potentiality for Remediation of Crude Petroleum Oil Pollution of Soil

“…As shown in our previous study on V. rosea [31], the presence of V. rosea plants may enhance the total petroleum hydrocarbons degradation in the soil, particularly at low crude oil treatment levels (up to 5%). A lower TPH degradation percentage was recorded in the unplanted control soils treated with 1%, 3%, 5%, and 7% crude oil.…”

“…One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the different treatments using Duncan's multiple range test at p < 0.05. For comparison among the different treatments in planted and unplanted soils, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan's multiple range test (p < 0.05) were used [15,31].…”

“…Vinca rosea plants were grown in a mixture of sandy-clayey soil under natural conditions in an open greenhouse at the Faculty of Science, Cairo University. The chemical and physical properties of the used soil are found in [31]. Different concentrations of petroleum oil were mixed into the soil in order to obtain the following levels of oil contamination: 1%, 3%, 5%, and 7% crude oil per soil, as this is the expected level of crude petroleum oil pollution of soils where plants survive and perform their growth functions [4,31].…”

“…The chemical and physical properties of the used soil are found in [31]. Different concentrations of petroleum oil were mixed into the soil in order to obtain the following levels of oil contamination: 1%, 3%, 5%, and 7% crude oil per soil, as this is the expected level of crude petroleum oil pollution of soils where plants survive and perform their growth functions [4,31]. Three different experimental groups were established.…”

Phytoremediation of Crude Petroleum Oil Pollution: A Review

“…SCoT and ISSR molecular markers revealed discriminative profiles in Vinca rosea plants, which were grown under varying oil pollutant levels compared with those raised in an unpolluted environment. The band patterns of both markers showed elevated levels of polymorphism along with dose-dependent alterations in DNA profiles with a decreased genomic template stability (GTS) as the petroleum pollution level increases (Hussein et al, 2022). However, while molecular markers are widely used to evaluate the effects of other environmental contaminants these markers have not been adequately utilized to assess the genotoxic effects of PHC contaminants on plants (Neeratanaphan et al, 2014;Ozyigit et al, 2021).…”