Scrutinizing the Impact of Alternating Electromagnetic Fields on Molecular Features of the Model Plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

Natural and anthropogenic electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are ubiquitous in the environment and interfere with all biological organisms including plants. Particularly the quality and quantity of alternating EMFs from anthropogenic sources are increasing due to the implementation of novel technologies. There is a significant interest in exploring the impact of EMFs (similar to those emitted from battery chargers of electric cars) on plants. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana was exposed to a composite alternating EMF program for 48 h and scrutinized for molecular alterations using photosynthetic performance, metabolite profiling, and RNA sequencing followed by qRT-PCR validation. Clear differences in the photosynthetic parameters between the treated and control plants indicated either lower nonphotochemical quenching or higher reduction of the plastoquinone pool or both. Transcriptome analysis by RNA sequencing revealed alterations in transcript amounts upon EMF exposure; however, the gene ontology groups of, e.g., chloroplast stroma, thylakoids, and envelope were underrepresented. Quantitative real-time PCR validated deregulation of some selected transcripts. More profound were the readjustments in metabolite pool sizes with variations in photosynthetic and central energy metabolism. These findings together with the invariable phenotype indicate efficient adjustment of the physiological state of the EMF-treated plants, suggesting testing for more challenging growth conditions in future experiments.

Autoren

Sonja Michèle Schmidtpott
Saliba Danho
Vijay Kumar
Thorsten Seidel
Wolfgang Schöllhorn
Karl-Josef Dietz

DOI

10.3390/ijerph19095144

eISSN

1660-4601

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

9

Zeitschrift

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Sprache

en

Online publication date

2022

Paginierung

5144 - 5144

Status

Published online

Herausgeber

MDPI AG

Herausgeber URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095144

Datum der Datenerfassung

2022

Titel

Scrutinizing the Impact of Alternating Electromagnetic Fields on Molecular Features of the Model Plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

19

Datenquelle: Crossref

Abstract

Natural and anthropogenic electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are ubiquitous in the environment and interfere with all biological organisms including plants. Particularly the quality and quantity of alternating EMFs from anthropogenic sources are increasing due to the implementation of novel technologies. There is a significant interest in exploring the impact of EMFs (similar to those emitted from battery chargers of electric cars) on plants. The model plant <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i> was exposed to a composite alternating EMF program for 48 h and scrutinized for molecular alterations using photosynthetic performance, metabolite profiling, and RNA sequencing followed by qRT-PCR validation. Clear differences in the photosynthetic parameters between the treated and control plants indicated either lower nonphotochemical quenching or higher reduction of the plastoquinone pool or both. Transcriptome analysis by RNA sequencing revealed alterations in transcript amounts upon EMF exposure; however, the gene ontology groups of, e.g., chloroplast stroma, thylakoids, and envelope were underrepresented. Quantitative real-time PCR validated deregulation of some selected transcripts. More profound were the readjustments in metabolite pool sizes with variations in photosynthetic and central energy metabolism. These findings together with the invariable phenotype indicate efficient adjustment of the physiological state of the EMF-treated plants, suggesting testing for more challenging growth conditions in future experiments.

Addresses

Department of Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany.

Autoren

Sonja Michèle Schmidtpott
Saliba Danho
Vijay Kumar
Thorsten Seidel
Wolfgang Schöllhorn
Karl-Josef Dietz

DOI

10.3390/ijerph19095144

eISSN

1660-4601

Externe Identifier

PubMed Identifier: 35564539
PubMed Central ID: PMC9099453

Open access

true

ISSN

1661-7827

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

9

Zeitschrift

International journal of environmental research and public health

Schlüsselwörter

Arabidopsis
Arabidopsis Proteins
Acclimatization
Photosynthesis
Electromagnetic Fields
Light

Sprache

eng

Medium

Electronic

Online publication date

2022

Open access status

Open Access

Paginierung

5144

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2022

Status

Published

Publisher licence

CC BY

Datum der Datenerfassung

2022

Titel

Scrutinizing the Impact of Alternating Electromagnetic Fields on Molecular Features of the Model Plant <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>.

Sub types

research-article
Journal Article

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

19

Files

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5144/pdf?version=1650709056 https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC9099453?pdf=render

Datenquelle: Europe PubMed Central

Abstract

Natural and anthropogenic electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are ubiquitous in the environment and interfere with all biological organisms including plants. Particularly the quality and quantity of alternating EMFs from anthropogenic sources are increasing due to the implementation of novel technologies. There is a significant interest in exploring the impact of EMFs (similar to those emitted from battery chargers of electric cars) on plants. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana was exposed to a composite alternating EMF program for 48 h and scrutinized for molecular alterations using photosynthetic performance, metabolite profiling, and RNA sequencing followed by qRT-PCR validation. Clear differences in the photosynthetic parameters between the treated and control plants indicated either lower nonphotochemical quenching or higher reduction of the plastoquinone pool or both. Transcriptome analysis by RNA sequencing revealed alterations in transcript amounts upon EMF exposure; however, the gene ontology groups of, e.g., chloroplast stroma, thylakoids, and envelope were underrepresented. Quantitative real-time PCR validated deregulation of some selected transcripts. More profound were the readjustments in metabolite pool sizes with variations in photosynthetic and central energy metabolism. These findings together with the invariable phenotype indicate efficient adjustment of the physiological state of the EMF-treated plants, suggesting testing for more challenging growth conditions in future experiments.

Date of acceptance

2022

Autoren

Sonja Michèle Schmidtpott
Saliba Danho
Vijay Kumar
Thorsten Seidel
Wolfgang Schöllhorn
Karl-Josef Dietz

Autoren-URL

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35564539

DOI

10.3390/ijerph19095144

eISSN

1660-4601

Externe Identifier

PubMed Central ID: PMC9099453

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

9

Zeitschrift

Int J Environ Res Public Health

Schlüsselwörter

Arabidopsis thaliana
abiotic stress acclimation
electromagnetic fields
metabolites
photosynthesis
transcriptome
Acclimatization
Arabidopsis
Arabidopsis Proteins
Electromagnetic Fields
Light
Photosynthesis

Sprache

eng

Country

Switzerland

PII

ijerph19095144

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2022

Status

Published online

Datum, an dem der Datensatz öffentlich gemacht wurde

2022

Titel

Scrutinizing the Impact of Alternating Electromagnetic Fields on Molecular Features of the Model Plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

Sub types

Journal Article

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

19

Datenquelle: PubMed

Scrutinizing the Impact of Alternating Electromagnetic Fields on Molecular Features of the Model Plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Files

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