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Exposure of Cucurbita pepo to DDE-contamination alters the endophytic community: A cultivation dependent vs a cultivation independent approach
Identifier
027496
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Maybe not what one wants to hear about this plant - but important nevertheless, zucchini is a chelating agent for DDT, which of course means that is there are any residues of this vicious chemical in the soil, your courgette might contain them
A description of the experience
Environ Pollut. 2016 Feb;209:147-54. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2015.11.038. Epub 2015 Dec 10.
Exposure of Cucurbita pepo to DDE-contamination alters the endophytic community: A cultivation dependent vs a cultivation independent approach.
Eevers N1, Hawthorne JR2, White JC2, Vangronsveld J3, Weyens N1.
Author information
1
Hasselt University, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Agoralaan Building D, 3590, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
2
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Dept of Analytical Chemistry, 123 Huntington Street, CT 06511, New Haven, USA.
3
Hasselt University, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Agoralaan Building D, 3590, Diepenbeek, Belgium. Electronic address: jaco.vangronsveld@uhasselt.be.
Abstract
2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloro-ethylene (DDE) is the most abundant and persistent degradation product of the pesticide 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane (DDT) and is encountered in contaminated soils worldwide. Both DDE and DDT are classified as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) due to their high hydrophobicity and potential for bioaccumulation and biomagnification in the food chain. Zucchini (Cucurbita pepo ssp. pepo) has been shown to accumulate high concentrations of DDE and other POPs and has been proposed as a phytoremediation tool for contaminated soils. The endophytic bacteria associated with this plant may play an important role in the remedial process. Therefore, this research focuses on changes in endophytic bacterial communities caused by the exposure of C. pepo to DDE. The total bacterial community was investigated using cultivation-independent 454 pyrosequencing, while the cultivable community was identified using cultivation-dependent isolation procedures. For both procedures, increasing numbers of endophytic bacteria, as well as higher diversities of genera were observed when plants were exposed to DDE. Several bacterial genera such as Stenotrophomonas sp. and Sphingomonas sp. showed higher abundance when DDE was present, while, for example Pseudomonas sp. showed a significantly lower abundance in the presence of DDE. These findings suggest tolerance of different bacterial strains to DDE, which might be incorporated in further investigations to optimize phytoremediation with the possible use of DDE-degrading endophytes.
KEYWORDS:
454 pyrosequencing; Cucurbita pepo; DDE-contamination; Endophytes; Phytoremediation
PMID:
26683261
DOI:
10.1016/j.envpol.2015.11.038