BIOSS
Centre for Biological Signalling Studies

Chemical and structural characterization of copper adsorbed on mosses (Bryophyta)

Gonzales AG, Jimenez-Villacorta F, Beike AK, Reski R, Adamo P, Pokrovsky OS

J Hazard Mater. 2016;308:343-54.

J Hazard Mater.         online article

Monitoring air quality is mandatory in Europe since ten years. In a recent FP7 project, mosses were analyzed and cultivated under standardized conditions to establish biomonitors for pollutant quantification. To study the adsorption of copper, devitalized and living moss tissue from natural conditions and from in-vitro culture was analyzed by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS). The presence of Cu-S(CN) complexes suggests metabolically-controlled reduction of assimilated and adsorbed Cu2+ during cultivation of Physcomitrella patens.