Interactions of uranium with Brassica


Interactions of uranium with Brassica

Viehweger, K.; Geipel, G.

Uranium is a widespread radioactive toxic heavy metal, released into the biosphere mostly by military purposes and nuclear industry. It is taken up by plant root systems and its chemical toxicity is much more dangerous than the radiological. Thus cell suspensions of rape (Brassica napus) revealed similar defence mechanisms after uranium exposure as described for other heavy metals (Clemens 2001). Some of them will be presented in detail, e.g. the pH-shift of the outer medium, the uptake and cellular sequestration revealed by ICP-MS and confocal microscopy. The speciation of uranium in aqueous solutions depends strongly on the pH-value, ionic composition and strength and thus plays an important role in bioavailability and cytotoxicity respectively. To investigate the speciation of uranium time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS) was performed. Further investigations are under way to clarify the molecular interactions between possible cellular ligands and uranium.

Clemens, S. (2001). "Molecular mechanisms of plant metal tolerance and homeostasis." Planta V212 (4): 475-486.

Keywords: uranium; heavy metal; plant cell suspension; defence mechanisms; confocal microscopy; TRLFS

  • Poster
    Botanikertagung Hamburg 2007, 03.-07.09.2007, Hamburg, Germany

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Publ.-Id: 10177