Proposal：Natural Scientific Foundation of China
Investigator：Changzhou Yan
Periods：2016.01-2019.12
Abstract: Aquatic submerged macrophytes have attracted considerable attention recently for their phytoremediation potential of arsenic contaminated waters. However, water purifying function of the plants is most likely attributed to their composite system, because aquatic submerged plants habor abundant epiphytic bacteria on their leaves and stems. This project regard arsenic speciation transformation by epiphytic bacteria community and their host plants as the breakthrough point to study the roles of the plants and the epiphytic bacteria community, respectively, in the uptake, transformation, efflux and transportantion of two inorganic arsenic species by using the plants with or without bacteria under laboratory condition, and to discuss the influence of epiphytic bacteria community on arsenic uptake and transformation by aquatic surbmerged plants. Furthermore, we will characterize the arsenic metabolism of the epiphytic bacteria community by molecular biology techniques, and explore the diversity of epiphytic bacteria and arsenic metabolism-related gene. Based on the above research, the influence of environmental factors (DOC, nitrogen, phosphorus and arsenic) on arsenic uptak and transformation by the plants and the epiphytic bacteria community will be studied to explore the driving factors and the regulatory mechanism. This project is very important and meaningful, and will contribute to an overall understanding of arsenic uptake and metabolism, water quality purification, and ecological restoration function of aquatic submerged plants.