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Copper Toxicity in Leaves of Elodea canadensis Michx.

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Abstract

Elodea canadensis (Canadian waterweed) has an ability to accumulate and bioconcentrate heavy metals. In this work, selected cellular responses for Cu treatment were studied in leaves of E. canadensis. Short term experiments, i.e. 1 week exposure to 0.5, 1, 5, and 10 μM of Cu indicated that concentrations up to 10 μM Cu causes a pronounced accumulation of photosynthetic pigments, a drastic degradation of soluble proteins with molecular weight above 18 kDa and a rapid accumulation of polypeptides with molecular weight below 14 kDa. The connection of these observations with copper detoxification mechanisms in aquatic macrophytes are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

KS and MNVP gratefully acknowledge the financial support through the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, New Delhi and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNISW), Warsaw, Poland, in the framework of the “Indo-Polish Programme of Cooperation in Science & Technology” ref DST/INT/P-15/05 dt 7-11-2006.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Gronostajowa 7, 30-387, Kraków, Poland

    Przemysław Malec & Kazimierz Strzałka

  2. Department of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, M. Gorky Ural State University, Lenin av. 51, 620000, Ekaterinburg, Russia

    Maria Maleva

  3. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 500 046, India

    M. N. V. Prasad

Authors
  1. Przemysław Malec
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  2. Maria Maleva
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  3. M. N. V. Prasad
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  4. Kazimierz Strzałka
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Correspondence to Kazimierz Strzałka.

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Malec, P., Maleva, M., Prasad, M.N.V. et al. Copper Toxicity in Leaves of Elodea canadensis Michx.. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 82, 627–632 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-009-9650-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-009-9650-7

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