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Possible Application of the Medicinal Plant Hyoscyamus albus in Phytoremediation

Iron (Fe) is an essential element for plants; however, plants face Fe deficiency in neutral and alkaline soils because ferric iron, despite being abundant in the Earth’s crust, is almost insoluble and therefore unavailable to plant roots. A potentially important aspect of Fe deficiency is its relationship to the availability and uptake of other metal ions. Copper (Cu) is also an essential element for plants, being involved in various redox reactions, including electron transfer; however, the toxicity of excess Cu to organisms has been widely recognized because Cu produces reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radicals, which cause oxidative damage to lipids, proteins and DNA, resulting in cellular deterioration.

Hyoscyamus albus (Solanaceae, white henbane) is an annual or biennial plant growing on the Continent, particularly in France and in Indian subcontinent, and used as a source of hyoscyamine, which is an important anticholinergic drug of plant origin.

In this paper, seedlings of the medicinal plant Hyoscyamus albus were supplied with an excess of Cu to examine the possible application in phytoremediation. The seedlings were cultured in B5 medium supplied with basal 0.1 μM Cu and 200 μM Cu under various light conditions: short day (SD); long day (LD); and continuous light (CL). In addition, the effect of supplying 200 μM Cu under Fe deficiency was determined, in order to elucidate the interaction between Cu and Fe. All results were expressed as means and sd. Statistical significance was assessed by ANOVA, followed by Dunnett’s multiple comparison tests (Excel Statistics, SSRI, Tokyo, Japan).

The results indicated that Fe-deficiency symptoms that developed in plants grown with basic levels of Cu under LD almost disappeared when excess Cu was supplied. Plant growth mainly depended on the photo irradiation period (SD < LD~CL); and 200 μM Cu did not inhibit growth at all when Fe was available, whereas in the absence of Fe, CL caused damage to growth. Analysis of the Cu and Fe contents of the plants revealed that Cu was distributed equally in both the aerial parts and roots, whereas most of the Fe was found in the roots; under Fe deficiency, Cu accumulation in the roots apparently increased. Cu was mainly distributed in the soluble fraction, which included vacuoles and the cell-wall fraction.

In conclusion, these results provide evidence indicating that H. albus seedlings are tolerant of Cu present in excess. Furthermore, excess Cu was able to compensate for Fe deficiency, depending on the light conditions. Continuous light inhibited this effect, probably as a result of the induction of Mn deficiency.  

Article by Noriko Tamari, et al, from Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.

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