| Issue № 1 |
Original research |
pdf-version |
Radiostimulation with low doses of γ-radiation increases the efficiency of accumulation and alleviates stress from excess copper in the aquatic plant-phytoremediator Lemna minor L.
| Bodnar Irina Sergeevna | PhD, Institute of Biology of the Komi Science Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 28 Kommunisticheskaya st., Syktyvkar 167982, Komi Republic, Russia, bodnar-irina@mail.ru |
| Cheban Evgenia Vasilevna | Institute of Biology of the Komi Science Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 28 Kommunisticheskaya st., Syktyvkar 167982, Komi Republic, Russia, gesha_lesik@mail.ru |
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Keywords: low doses of ionizing radiation copper phytoremediation of water bodies duckweed |
Summary: Due to the prevalence and severity of copper pollution in the hydrosphere, it is important to develop affordable, feasible, and sustainable wastewater treatment technologies (Liu et al., 2023). Phytoremediation is an effective technology for environmental remediation of various organic and inorganic pollutants using plants and associated microbes (Pilon-Smits, 2005). Duckweed is suitable for phytoremediation of copper-contaminated aquatic ecosystems due to its high bioaccumulation rates and ease of cultivation. Duckweed is a moderate copper accumulator with a high percentage (≥ 90 %) of removal from wastewater (Bokhary et al., 2016). However, the effectiveness of phytoremediation may be reduced by copper's high toxicity for duckweed (Ucuncu et al., 2013). Plant tolerance to abiotic stress can be increased using low doses of gamma radiation (Zhang et al., 2016). Stimulating stress resistance with low doses of radiation is called radiostimulation or radiopriming (Villegas et al., 2025). We hypothesized that irradiating duckweed with low doses of radiation would promote metal accumulation without adversely affecting plant growth and development. The use of ionizing radiation to enhance the effectiveness of polluted water phytoremediation was not studied, but some studies have shown that low doses increase plant tolerance to heavy metals (Wang et al., 2017). Studying changes in heavy metal absorption after irradiation is of fundamental importance for plant toxicology and radioecology and can be applied in practice to the phytoremediation of polluted water bodies. A duckweed culture was grown on Steinberg's medium (Steinberg, 1946) in a climate chamber with controlled temperature (24 ± 0.1 °C) and lighting (16 hours day/8 hours dark) (OECD, 2006). For the experiment, the plants were irradiated with 7 Gy using a gamma-irradiation system with a Cs137 source at a dose rate of 0.74 Gy/min. After irradiation, the plants were rinsed in distilled water, and 12 plants were transferred to five glass containers for each treatment with Steinberg's medium containing Cu2+ (3, 5, or 6 μmol/L) as CuCl2. The experiments were repeated three times. Pre-irradiation of plants with 7 Gy before exposure did not increase Cu2+ toxicity to duckweed. After irradiation, the growth rate and frond area remained at the same level as non-irradiated plants grown only in excess Cu2+ (p ≤ 0.05). A 10–24 % reduction in frond damage from Cu2+ exposure can be considered a positive effect of radiation exposure in this experiment; therefore, irradiation at a dose of 7 Gy can be considered stimulating. An increase in the level of frond damage under Cu2+ exposure is associated with a decrease in chlorophyll content (r = -0.9, p ≤ 0.005). In plants exposed to radiostimulation, the content of chlorophyll a and the sum of chlorophylls a+b increased by 14.5 % and 17.2 %, respectively, compared to non-irradiated plants in the variant with 3 μmol/L Cu2+. Radiostimulation contributed to a greater accumulation of Cu2+ in plants compared to unirradiated plants. Irradiated plants accumulated Cu2+ most effectively at 6 μmol/L Cu2+, and the least effectively at 3 μmol/L. The accumulation efficiency increased by 19.4 % at 3μmol/L Cu2+ and 16.7 % at 6 μmol/L Cu2+. The greater accumulation of Cu2+ in plants after radiostimulation may be due to a decrease in the proportion of fronds with chlorosis and/or necrosis. Thus, low-dose irradiation (7 Gy) did not impair the growth characteristics of duckweed, but rather increased Cu2+ accumulation in plants. The duckweed irradiated with a low-dose in phytoremediation can be used to improve the efficiency of copper-contaminated wastewater and natural water treatment. © Petrozavodsk State University |
Received on: 27 November 2025 Published on: 27 March 2026 | |
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