Cadmium (Cd), a heavy metal widely distributed in aquatic systems, enters water bodies through the use of phosphorus fertilizers and industrial discharge. Its high mobility in plant systems leads to great threat to human health.

Researchers from Wuhan Botanical Garden evaluated the impact of Cd toxicity on aquatic plant Potamogeton crispus (P. crispus) exposed to different light qualities (white, blue, and red light) and elucidated the underlying mechanism.

Results indicated that Cd induced severe adverse morphological changes and decreased physicochemical properties in P. crispus, but the severity of the damage caused by Cd was less pronounced in blue light when compared to white and red light. Moreover, the lower level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and less superoxide (O₂^.–) implied the P. crispus grown under blue light suffered slighter oxidative stress compared to white and red light. The elevated ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity and non-photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ) in leaves seemed to be closely related to the higher Cd tolerance in B-grown P. crispus.

This study may have important guiding significance for better understanding of physiological changes in aquatic plants, the protection of plant or ecological restoration.

The research entitled “Blue light enhances cadmium tolerance of the aquatic macrophyte Potamogeton crispus” was published in the Plants. It was supported by the the National Natural Science Foundation of China.