title: RhizoFlowCell system reveals early effects of micropollutants on aquatic plant rhizosphere.
abstract: In aquatic systems, one of the non-destructive ways to quantify toxicity of contaminants to plants is to monitor changes in root exudation patterns. In aquatic conditions, monitoring and quantifying such changes are currently challenging because of dilution of root exudates in water phase and lack of suitable instrumentation to measure them. Exposure to pollutants would not only change the plant exudation, but also affect the microbial communities that surround the root zone, thereby changing the metabolic profiles of the rhizosphere. This study aims at developing a device, the RhizoFlowCell, which can quantify metabolic response of plants, as well as changes in the microbial communities, to give an estimate of the stress to which the rhizosphere is exposed. The usefulness of RhizoFlowCell is demonstrated using naphthalene as a test pollutant. Results show that RhizoFlowCell system is useful in quantifying the dynamic metabolic response of aquatic rhizosphere to determine ecosystem health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 117576, Singapore; Singapore-Delft Water Alliance, National University of Singapore, 117577, Singapore.
authors.forename: Kalyan Chakravarthy
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Mynampati
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, 637551, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yong Jian
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Deltares, Boussinesqweg 1, 2629 HV Delft, P.O. Box 177, 2600 MH, Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Arjan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wijdeveld
authors.affiliation: Singapore-Delft Water Alliance, National University of Singapore, 117577, Singapore.
authors.forename: Sheela
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reuben
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 117576, Singapore.
authors.forename: Lakshminarayanan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Samavedham
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, 637551, Singapore.
authors.forename: Staffan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kjelleberg
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, 637551, Singapore; Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 117543, Singapore; NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI), National University of Singapore, 117411, Singapore. Electronic address: sanjay@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Swarup
mesh_terms: D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D009281:Naphthalenes; D053147:Plant Exudates / Q000378:metabolism*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism; D058441:Rhizosphere; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D009281:Naphthalenes; D053147:Plant Exudates; C031721:naphthalene
keywords: Aquatic systems; Imaging; Metabolomics; Micropollutants; Rhizosphere