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. 2023 Jul 13;11(7):610.
doi: 10.3390/toxics11070610.

Whole-Transcriptome Analysis on the Leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. under Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Shili Tian  1 , Qingyang Liu  2 , Jingming Qu  1 , Ming Yang  1 , Qiaoyun Ma  1 , Jia Liu  1 , Peng Shao  1 , Yanju Liu  1
Affiliations

Whole-Transcriptome Analysis on the Leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. under Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Shili Tian et al. Toxics. .

Abstract

The leaves of plants can be recommended as a cheap and sustainable environmental protection tool to mitigate PAHs with high toxicity in the ambient environment because they can serve as a reactor to remove ambient PAHs. Although previous studies have demonstrated that PAHs exhibit toxicological features, our knowledge about how ambient PAHs influence the leaves of plants is limited regarding the leaves of plants reducing ambient PAHs as a reactor. In this study, 1-year-old Rosa chinensis Jacq. with good growth potential was selected as a model plant. The leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. were exposed to 16 types of PAHs in the environmental concentration exposure group (0.1 μg L-1) and high-concentration exposure group (5 μg L-1) for seven days. In comparison, the leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. were exposed to de-ionized water and were chosen as the control group. During the exposure periods, the physiological parameters of leaves including, chlorophyll value, water content, temperature and nitrogen, were monitored using a chlorophyll meter. After 7 days of exposure, the leaves in the control and exposure groups were collected and used for whole-transcriptome analysis. Our results demonstrate that significant differentially expressed genes were observed in the leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. exposed to individual PAHs at 5 μg L-1 compared to the control group. These differentially expressed genes were involved in seven main pathways using bioinformatic analyses. In contrast, the levels of PAHs at environmentally relevant concentrations had negligible impacts on the physiological parameters and the gene transcription levels of the leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. Our results may provide direct evidence to remove ambient PAHs using terrestrial trees without considering the risk of PAHs at environmentally relevant concentrations on the leaves of terrestrial plants.

Keywords: PAHs; exposure; gene transcription levels; whole-transcriptome analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effects of PAH stress on the mean levels of chlorophyll value (SPAD), water content (H2O) and nitrogen element (N) in the leaves.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of upregulated and downregulated genes for high-concentration exposure group relative to the control (A) and low-concentration exposure group relative to the control (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of upregulated and downregulated genes for high-concentration exposure group relative to the control (A) and low-concentration exposure group relative to the control (B).
Figure 3
Figure 3
KEGG enrichment analysis of high-concentration exposure group relative to the control group. Scatter plot of KEGG enrichment, showing all pathways significantly enriched (p < 0.05) in each module.
Figure 4
Figure 4
KEGG enrichment analysis of low-concentration exposure group relative to the control group. Scatter plot of KEGG enrichment, showing all pathways significantly enriched (p < 0.05) in each module.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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