Effects of two species of inorganic arsenic on the nutrient physiology of rice seedlings

This paper reports on a hydroponics experiment that was conducted to investigate the effect of inorganic arsenics on the seedlings of the rice cultivar Shanyou63. The seedlings were subjected to two treatments, i.e., As(III) and As(V). The results showed that the morphological traits of the seedlings were significantly altered after the arsenic treatments. Analysis of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and arsenic contents of the roots and leaves of the seedlings indicated that the absorption of phosphorus and potassium was mainly affected by As(III), while that of nitrogen was mainly affected by As(V). The expression of 12 genes involved in the absorption and utilization of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were all observed to be down-regulated after the arsenic treatments. As(V) significantly affected the absorption and utilization of nitrogen, while As(III) significantly affected those of phosphorus and potassium. The result obtained by realtime FQ-PCR regarding the difference in the gene expressions agreed with that of our hydroponics experiment.