UPTAKE OF CU(II) BY SCHOENOPLECTUS CALIFORNICUS (C.A. MEYER) SOJÁK (CYPERACEAE)

Schoenoplectus californicus is an aquatic plant diffused along the Río de la Plata (Argentina) coast.
This area shows important inputs of heavy metals as copper, cadmium and chromium due to massive industrial effluents discharges.
In this work the kinetic of uptake of Cu(II) by Schoenoplectus californicus and its effects on the electrophoretic protein patterns was studied.
Cu (II) content was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and the protein pattern modification was followed by denaturing electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). About 80% of Cu (II) was removed from the medium after two hours.
In SDS-PAGE gels bands at 16 kDa and 50 kDa shown a significant increase.
These results reveals the presence of fast mechanisms of Cu (II) incorporation in Schoenoplectus californicus. On the other hand, if the increase observed in certain protein bands in SDS-PAGE would be related with Cu (II) uptake, this fact could be used as indicator of heavy metal contamination.

II WOCMAP Congress Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Part 1: Biological Resources, Sustainable Use, Conservation and Ethnobotany

S.S. Ramírez, M. Bilen, A.A. Porta, N.O. Caffini

heavy metals, biomarkers, aquatic plant, bioaccumulation, bioremediation, environmental stress

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1999.500.15