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Effects of bisphenol A, an environmental endocrine disruptor, on the endogenous hormones of plants

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Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a ubiquitous endocrine-disrupting chemical in the environment that exerts potential harm to plants. Phytohormones play important roles both in regulating multiple aspects of plant growth and in plants’ responses to environmental stresses. But how BPA affects plant growth by regulating endogenous hormones remains poorly understood. Here, we found that treatment with 1.5 mg L−1 BPA improved the growth of soybean seedlings, companied by increases in the contents of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and zeatin (ZT), and decreases in the ratios of abscisic acid (ABA)/IAA, ABA/gibberellic acid (GA), ABA/ZT, ethylene (ETH)/GA, ETH/IAA, and ETH/ZT. Treatment with higher concentrations of BPA (from 3 to 96 mg L−1) inhibited the growth of soybean seedlings, meanwhile, decreased the contents of IAA, GA, ZT, and ETH, and increased the content of ABA and the ratios of ABA/IAA, ABA/GA, ABA/ZT, ETH/GA, ETH/IAA, and ETH/ZT. The increases in the ratios of growth and stress hormones were correlated with the increase in the BPA content of the roots. Thus, BPA could affect plant growth through changing the levels of single endogenous hormone and the ratios of growth and stress hormones in the roots because of BPA absorption by the roots.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported through the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31170477), Jiangsu Province (BK2011160), Innovation Project for Postgraduates of Jiang University, and the Research and Innovation Project for Postgraduates of Higher Education Institutions of Jiangsu Province (CXLX13_749).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangsu Cooperative Innovation Center of Water Treatment Technology and Materials, School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

      Shengman Wang, Lihong Wang, Weiqi Hua, Min Zhou, Qingqing Wang & Qing Zhou

    2. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210046, People’s Republic of China

      Xiaohua Huang

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    1. Shengman Wang
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    2. Lihong Wang
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    3. Weiqi Hua
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    4. Min Zhou
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    5. Qingqing Wang
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    6. Qing Zhou
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    Correspondence to Qing Zhou or Xiaohua Huang.

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    Responsible editor: Henner Hollert

    Shengman Wang and Lihong Wang contributed equally to this work.

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    Wang, S., Wang, L., Hua, W. et al. Effects of bisphenol A, an environmental endocrine disruptor, on the endogenous hormones of plants. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 17653–17662 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4972-y

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