Mechanism of toxicity of sulfur dioxide to plants. I. Inhibition of photosynthetic oxygen evolution from Chlorella pyrenoidosa

Journal Article · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1968 · Proc., Annu. Meet., Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5011577

Zelmanoff, S; Speaker, T J

The specific mechanism of the toxic action of sulfur dioxide on plants has gone largely unexplained. It was of interest, therefore, to attempt to identify which physiologic process(es) in green plants might serve as prime target(s) for sulfur dioxide. An attempt was made to correlate the sulfur dioxide concentration with the inhibition of oxygen evolution or consumption in a series of acute experiments: the authors exposed pure cultures of the green alga Chlorella pyrenoidosa to known concentrations of sulfur dioxide and micromanometrically measured changes in oxygen evolution and uptake both in the dark and under illumination. They found less oxygen was evolved in a unit of time by bisulfite treated algae than by control cultures during periods of illumination. Comparison of rates of oxygen production showed that sulfur dioxide treated algae showed greater (more negative) rates than controls. Semilogarithmic plots suggest that this followed first order kinetics during the initial period. The sulfur dioxide treated cultures produce nearly as much oxygen during the first moments of illuminated exposure, but not thereafter. The authors interpret these results in terms of a sulfur dioxide induced inhibition. The degree of inhibition was dose related in the range of 0 to 100 ppm sulfur dioxide. Chlorella cultures exposed in the dark to concentrations of sulfur dioxide up to 100 ppm gave no evidence of respiratory inhibition. This inhibition by sulfur dioxide is seen to result from two effects; firstly, a diminution in total oxygen evolution during each interval of time; and secondly, in a shorter half-life for the oxygen evolving reaction. Thus not only is less oxygen evolved per unit time, but in addition, oxygen is evolved for a shorter time. The oxygen liberating reaction in the presence of sulfur dioxide is less vigorous and shuts off faster. 7 references, 4 figures, 3 tables.

• Research Organization: Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA
• OSTI ID: 5011577
• Journal Information: Proc., Annu. Meet., Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States), Journal Name: Proc., Annu. Meet., Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States) Vol. 61:68-37; ISSN PRAPA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
ALGAE
BIOCHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
BIOLOGICAL HALF-LIFE
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORELLA
DATA
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
INFORMATION
INHIBITION
KINETICS
METABOLISM
MICROORGANISMS
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDES
OXYGEN
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
PLANTS
POLLUTION
RADIATIONS
REACTION KINETICS
RESPIRATION
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
SYNTHESIS
TOXICITY
UNICELLULAR ALGAE
VISIBLE RADIATION