Impact Assessment of Air Pollution Stress on Plant Species through Biochemical Estimations

Authors: Govindaraju.M, Ganeshkumar.R.S, Suganthi.P, Muthukumaran.V.R, Visvanathan.P

Abstract:

The present study was conducted to investigate the response of plants exposed to lignite-based thermal power plant emission. For this purpose, five plant species were collected from 1.0 km distance (polluted site) and control plants were collected from 20.0 km distance (control site) to thermal power plant. The common tree species Cassia siamea Lamk., Polyalthia longifolia. Sonn, Acacia longifolia (Andrews) Wild., Azadirachta indica A.Juss, Ficus religiosa L. were selected as test plants. Photosynthetic pigments changes (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids) and rubisco enzyme modifications were studied. Reduction was observed in the photosynthetic pigments of plants growing in polluted site and also large sub unit of the rubisco enzyme was degraded in Azadirachta indica A. Juss collected from polluted site.

Keywords: Air pollution, Lignite-based thermal power plant, Photosynthetic pigments, Rubisco enzyme.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1073405

References:

[1] A.P. Sharma, & B.D. Tripathi, "Magnetic mapping of fly- ash pollution and heavy metals from soil samples around a point source in a dry tropical environment", Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, vol. 138(1-3), pp. 31-39, 2008.
[2] A.P. Sharma, and B.D. Tripathi, "Assessment of atmospheric PAHs profile through Calotropis gigantean R.Br leaves in the vicinity of an Indian coal-fired power Plant", Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, vol. 149(1-4), pp. 477-482, 2008.
[3] A.P. Sharma, and B.D. Tripathi, "Assessment of TSP-bound polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in ambient air of a seasonally dry tropical urban-industrial area", AMBIOÔÇöA Journal of Human Environment, vol. 37, no.4, 2008.
[4] A.S.H. Ong, and E.S. Tee, "Natural sources of Carotenoids from plants and oils", Meth. Enzymol, vol. 213, pp. 142-167, 1992.
[5] G. Britton, "Structure and properties of carotenoids in relation to function", FASEB J., vol. 9, pp. 1551-1558, 1995.
[6] D. Siefermann-Harms, "The light harvesting and protective function of carotenoids in photosynthetic membranes", Physiologia Plantarum, vol. 69, pp. 561-568, 1987.
[7] Z. Miszalski and J. Mydlarz, "SO2 influence on photosynthesis of tomato plants at different CO2 concentrations", Photosynthetica, vol. 24, pp. 2-8, 1990.
[8] W. Briiggemann, S. Klaucke, K. Maas-Kantel, "Long-term chilling of young tomato plants under low light. V. Kinetic and molecular properties of two key enzymes of the Calvin cycle in Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. and L. peruvianum Mill", Planta, vol. 194, pp. 160- 168, 1994.
[9] N.A. Eckardt and E.J. Pell, "Oxidative modification of Rubisco from potato foliage in response to ozone" Plant Physiol Biochem, vol. 33, pp. 273-282, 1995.
[10] K.P. Backett, P.H. Free-smith, and G. Taylor, "Urban woodlands: Their role in reducing the effect of particulate pollution" Environmental Pollution, vol. 99, 347-306, 1998.
[11] R.M. Cox, "The use of passive sampling to monitor forest exposure to O3, NO2 and SO2: A review and some case studies", Environmental Pollution, vol. 126, pp. 301-311, 2003.
[12] Daniel I. Arnon, "Copper enzymes in isolated chloroplasts.Polyphenoloxidase in Beta vulgaris", Plant Physiology, vol. 24, pp. 1-15, 1949.
[13] Andreas Bahl and Gunter Kahl, "Air pollutant stress changes the steady state transcript levels of three photosynthesis genes", Environmental Pollution, vol. 88, pp. 57-65, 1994.
[14] U.K. Laemmli, "Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4", Nature, vol. 227, pp. 680-685, 1970.
[15] K.J. Puckett, E. Nieboer, W.P. Flora and D.H.S. Richardson, "Sulphur dioxide: Its effect on photosynthetic 14C fixation in lichens and suggested mechanism of phytotoxicity" The New Phytologist, vol. 72, pp. 141-154.
[16] S. Bansal, "Studies on the effect of certain atmospheric pollutants on fruit diseases of Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. Caused by Alternaria alternate", PhD thesis, Bhopal, Bhopal University, 1988.
[17] N. Singh, S.N. Singh, K. Srivastava., M. Yunus,, K.J. Ahmad and S. C. Sharma et al., "Relative sensitivity and tolerance of some Gladiolus cultivars to sulphur dioxide", Annals of Botany, vol. 65, pp. 41-44, 1990.
[18] A.S. Sandelius, K. Naslund., A.S. Carlson, H. Pleijel, and G. Sellden, "Exposure of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) to ozone in open top chambers. Effects on acyl lipid composition and chlorophyll content of flag leaves", The New Phytologist, vol. 131, pp. 231-239, 1995.
[19] Hiroyuki Ishida, Yoshito Nishimori, Miki Sugisawa, Amane Makino and Tadahiko Mae, "The Large Subunit of Ribulose-1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase is Fragmented into 37-kDa and 16-kDa Polypeptides by Active Oxygen in the Lysates of Chloroplasts from Primary Leaves of Wheat", Plant CellPhysiol, vol. 38(4), pp. 471-479, 1997.
[20] K.J.A. Davies, S.W. Lin and R.E. Pacifici, "Protein damage and degradation by oxygen radicals. IV. Degradation of denatured protein", J Biol Chem, vol. 262, pp. 9914-9920, 1987.