Elucidating the selenium and arsenic metabolic pathways following exposure to the non-hyperaccumulating Chlorophytum comosum, spider plant

Abstract

Although many studies have investigated the metabolism of selenium and arsenic in hyperaccumulating plants for phytoremediation purposes, few have explored non-hyperaccumulating plants as a model for general contaminant exposure to plants. In addition, the result of simultaneous supplementation with selenium and arsenic has not been investigated in plants. In this study, Chlorophytum comosum, commonly known as the spider plant, was used to investigate the metabolism of selenium and arsenic after single and simultaneous supplementation. Size exclusion and ion-pairing reversed phase liquid chromatography were coupled to an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer to obtain putative metabolic information of the selenium and arsenic species in C. comosum after a mild aqueous extraction. The chromatographic results depict that selenium and arsenic species were sequestered in the roots and generally conserved upon translocation to the leaves. The data suggest that selenium was directly absorbed by C. comosum roots when supplemented with SeVI, but a combination of passive and direct absorption occurred when supplemented with SeIV due to the partial oxidation of SeIV to SeVI in the rhizosphere. Higher molecular weight selenium species were more prevalent in the roots of plants supplemented with SeIV, but in the leaves of plants supplemented with SeVI due to an increased translocation rate. When supplemented as AsIII, arsenic is proposed to be passively absorbed as AsIII and partially oxidized to AsV in the plant root. Although total elemental analysis demonstrates a selenium and arsenic antagonism, a compound containing selenium and arsenic was not present in the general aqueous extract of the plant.

Arsenic Limits Trace Mineral Nutrition (Selenium, Zinc, and Nickel) in Bangladesh Rice Grain

“…Take for example the process of grain filling, over 269 genes may play a functional role, but how and at what concentration As induces phenotypic changes is not well-defined (48). The situation is further complicated by the interconversion of metal(loid) species and their species specific uptake, translocation and interaction characteristics (49). What is apparent, however, is that As has a negative influence on plant metabolism at much lower concentrations than can be detected by comparing general growth features alone (50).…”

Involvement of a Broccoli COQ5 Methyltransferase in the Production of Volatile Selenium Compounds

“…Selenate is actively taken up and transported easily to the shoot, where some of it is reduced and assimilated into selenoamino acids in chloroplasts. Selenite enters plant cells passively and the bulk of it is nonenzymatically reduced and metabolized primarily in roots (Zayed et al, 1998;Afton et al, 2009). Notably, when the transgenic plants were treated with selenate, the BoCOQ5-2 transformants accumulated significantly less total Se despite the observation of no increased rate of Se volatilization in comparison with the vectoronly control.…”

Protective Effect of Enzymatic Hydrolyzate of Chlorophytum Comosum (L.) against Experimental Toxic Liver Injury in Wistar Rats at the Age of Two Years

“…It is shown that the leaves of this plant have a high sorption characteristics with respect to formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, benzene, trichlorethylene, phenols and other compounds [4,3]. By chemical analysis of the enzymatic hydrolyzate of Chlorophytum comosum in its composition was found DL -ornithine monohydrochloride having desintoxication and hepatoprotective action [7,8,11,15,20,23].…”

“…To test the hypothesis about the effectiveness of bio-stimulation, we carried out a study which purpose was to examine the severity of liver damage while taking CCl 4 and enzymatic hydrolyzate of Chlorophytum comosum (L.).…”