Subcellular and molecular localization of rare earth elements and structural characterization of yttrium bound chlorophyll a in naturally grown fern Dicranopteris dichotoma

Zhenggui Wei*, Fashui Hong, Ming Yin, Huixin Li, Feng Hu, Guiwen Zhao, Jonathan W. C. Wong

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

56 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A rare earth element (REE) hyperaccumulator, Dicranopteris dichotoma, sampled from an REE mining area in South-Jiangxi region, was chosen for analysis of 15 REEs at subcellular and molecular levels by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The sum of the concentrations of 15 REEs (ΣREEs) of D. dichotoma leaf was about 0.1% dry mass. Results indicated that the ΣREEs of different subcellular fractions of D. dichotoma leaf were cell walls>organelles>the 'soluble' fraction (i.e., cytosol and vacuoles)>cell membranes. ICP-MS results also showed that REEs existed in chlorophylls and lutein, though REE concentrations in carotene and pheophytin were both lower than the procedural blank levels. The ΣREEs of crude lipopolysaccharide and Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) obtained from D. dichotoma leaf were 1200 and 343 mg/kg, respectively. The extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) study of D. dichotoma chlorophyll a indicated that yttrium was bound to the porphyrin ring of chlorophyll a, and one yttrium atom was surrounded by four nitrogen atoms with the average yttrium-nitrogen bond length being 0.236 nm. These data might be useful for understanding of the physiological role of REEs in hyperaccumulator D. dichotoma.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-8
Number of pages8
JournalMicrochemical Journal
Volume80
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2005

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Spectroscopy

User-Defined Keywords

  • Dicranopteris dichotoma
  • EXAFS
  • ICP-MS
  • Rare earth elements
  • Subcellular localization

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