YOU RUI
Li Hui
*The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment
Volume 12 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1479500
This article is part of the Research Topic Effects and Challenges of Ecological Protection and Restoration Strategies on Elemental Cycles View all 6 articles
Ecotoxicological impacts of cadmium on soil microorganisms and earthworms Eisenia foetida: from gene regulation to physiological processes
Provisionally accepted- Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China
Cadmium (Cd) is a hazardous heavy metal that is commonly found in the soil and poses significant risks to soil organisms. The toxic effects of Cd on soil microorganisms and earthworms (Eisenia foetida) have been extensively studied, but most studies focused on high Cd pollution levels. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the different responses of soil organisms to moderate and low levels of Cd contamination. According to the study, the presence of 2.5 mg/kg of Cd had a significant impact on the microbial community's composition and diversity. The relative abundance of most microbes decreased, while the abundance of Firmicutes and Actinobacteriota showed a considerable increase. The LEFSE analysis revealed that the Bacillus genus of the Firmicutes phylum can serve as a biomarker in soil contaminated with 2.5 mg/kg of Cd. At the same time, the functional analysis of PICRUSt 2 shows that microorganisms found in polluted soil have a noticeable decrease in their ability to metabolize lipids. On the other hand, our findings indicate that Cd has a detrimental effect on the biomass of earthworms and induces oxidative stress in these animals. The activation of SOD and CAT enzymes in earthworms was carried out to mitigate oxidative stress. The study found a strong positive relationship between SOD and both time and Cd pollution. However, CAT exhibited inhibition throughout the later stages of the experiment, particularly when exposed to relatively higher levels of pollution. The analysis of RNA in earthworms revealed that soil Cd pollution at a concentration of 2.5 mg/kg primarily impacts the cellular structure and function of earthworms. This pollution disrupts the integrity of the cytoskeleton structure, hampers DNA replication, and compromises the precision of cell signaling. Simultaneously, when compared to the control group, several metabolic pathways exhibited abnormalities.
Keywords: Cd, soil microorganisms, Earthworm, Metabolism pathway, Gene Expression, Oxidative Stress
Received: 12 Aug 2024; Accepted: 27 Sep 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 RUI, Hui, xia, Hui, Peng, Han and Ya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Li Hui, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China
Li xia, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China
Luo L. Hui, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China
Wang Peng, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China
Xia Han, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China
Zhou Ya, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China
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