Unraveling the early molecular and physiological mechanisms involved in response to phenanthrene exposure

BMC Genomics

Table 2 Effect of PHN on energy metabolism after 24 h of treatment

	Control	Phenantrene	Rank sum test
	(DMSO)	200 μM	Rank sum test
Chlorophyll (mg.g-1 FW)	0.45 ± 0.09	0.73 ± 0.11	P = 0.004
Respiration with respect to chlorophyll content (nmolO2.h⁻¹.mg⁻¹ chlorophyll⁻¹)	19.62 ± 2.52	16.11 ± 2.65	ns (P = 0.065)
Respiration with respect to fresh weight (nmolO2.h⁻¹.mg FW⁻¹)	8.74 ± 1.33	11.72 ± 2.72	P = 0.041
Cyanide-resistant respiration (%)	46.86 ± 5.07	48.70 ± 7.6	ns (P = 0.485)
Photosynthesis with respect to chlorophyll content (nmolO2.h⁻¹.mg⁻¹ chlorophyll⁻¹)	79.11 ± 5.96	40.56 ± 6.62	P = 0.004
Photosynthesis with respect to fresh weight (nmolO2.h⁻¹.mg FW⁻¹)	35.93 ± 6.31	29.46 ± 6.46	ns (P = 0.082)
Photosynthesis/respiration ratio	4.10 ± 0.34	2.54 ± 0.35	P = 0.004

Four-week-old plants grown in vitro in MS/2 medium were treated for 24 h with 200 μM PHN before measurements of leaf chlorophyll content, respiration and photosynthesis. Data are indicated as average with SD (n = 5 or 6), and due to the small sample size, a non-parametric Mann–Whitney rank sum test was applied (ns non significant)

ISSN: 1471-2164