Skip Navigation



AOBPreview published online on November 30, 2005
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mcj026
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Content Select
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
97/2/257    most recent
mcj026v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by BHARALI, B.
Right arrow Articles by BATES, J. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by BHARALI, B.
Right arrow Articles by BATES, J. W.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by BHARALI, B.
Right arrow Articles by BATES, J. W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received July 15, 2005
Revised September 19, 2005
Accepted October 21, 2005

Article

Detoxification of Dissolved SO2 (Bisulfite) by Terricolous Mosses

BHAGAWAN BHARALI 1 and JEFFREY W. BATES 2 *

1 Department of Crop Physiology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-785013, Assam, India
2 Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
JEFFREY W. BATES, E-mail: j.bates{at}imperial.ac.uk


  Abstract

• Background and Aims The widespread calcifuge moss Pleurozium schreberi is moderately tolerant of SO2, whereas Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus is limited to calcareous soils in regions of the UK that were strongly affected by SO2 pollution in the 20th century. The proposition that tolerance of SO2 by these terricolous mosses depends on metabolic detoxification of dissolved bisulfite was investigated.

• Methods The capacities of the two mosses to accelerate loss of bisulfite from aqueous solutions of NaHSO3 were studied using DTNB [5, 5-dithio-(2-nitrobenzoic acid)] to assay bisulfite, and HPLC to assay sulfate in the incubation solutions. Incubations were performed for different durations, in the presence and absence of light, at a range of solution pH values, in the presence of metabolic inhibitors and with altered moss apoplastic Ca2+ and Fe3+ levels.

• Key Results Bisulfite disappearance was markedly stimulated in the light and twice as great for R. triquetrus as for P. schreberi. DCMU, an inhibitor of photosynthetic electron chain transport, significantly reduced bisufite loss.

• Conclusions Bisulfite (SO2) tolerance in these terricolous mosses involves extracellular oxidation using metabolic (photo-oxidative) energy, passive oxidation by adsorbed Fe3+ (only available to the calcifuge) and probably also internal metabolic detoxification.

Keywords: Pleurozium schreberi, Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus, SO2 pollution, bisulfite, detoxification, Ca2+, Fe3+, oxidative metabolism.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.