Characterization of the Bioavailability of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Farmland Soils and the Factors Impacting Their Translocation to Edible Plant Tissues
Abstract
In this study, various crops and farmland soils were collected from the Fen-Wei Plain, China, to investigate the bioavailability of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), their accumulation in edible plant tissues, and the factors impacting their accumulation. PFAS were frequently detected in all of the crops, with total concentrations ranging from 0.61 to 35.8 ng/g. The results of sequential extractions with water, basic methanol, and acidic methanol indicate that water extraction enables to characterize the bioavailability of PFAS in soil to edible plant tissues more accurately, especially for the shorter-chain homologues. The bioavailability of PFAS was remarkably enhanced in the rhizosphere (RS) soil, with the strongest effect observed for leafy vegetables. The water-extracted Σ 16 PFAS in RS soil was strongly correlated with the content of dissolved organic carbon in the soil. Tannins and lignin, identified as the main components of plant root exudates by Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry, were found to enhance the bioavailability of PFAS significantly. Redundancy analysis provided strong evidence that the lipid and protein contents in edible plant tissues play important roles in the accumulation of short- and long-chain PFAS, respectively. Additionally, the high water demand of these tissues during the growth stage greatly facilitated the translocation of PFAS, particularly for the short-chain homologues and perfluorooctanoic acid.
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Most plants retain PFAS in roots to mitigate phytotoxicity for shoots.
“most plants retain PFAS in roots to mitigate phytotoxicity for shoots25–28”
From Identification of a PFAS hyperaccumulator and elucidation of its translocation mechanism for sustainable phytoremediation (2025) · cites this paper as [26]
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- Authors
- Shen, L., Zhou, J., Ma, Y., Su, Q., Mao, H., Su, E., Tang, K. H. D., Wang, T., & Zhu, L.
- Affiliations
- Northwest A&F University (CN)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Nankai University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhou, Jian
- Zhu, Lingyan
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2024-08-22
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 35
- Pages
- 15790-15798
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W4401793216
- Cited by
- 48
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 21
- FWCI
- 6.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (2022YFC3703202)
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M702680)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (22036004, 41991313, 42207452, U23A2057)
- Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project (B17025)
- Chinese Universities Scientific Fund (2452021103)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Fluoride Effects and Removal
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
- Keywords
- per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, agricultural soil contamination, rhizosphere, sequential extraction, dissolved organic carbon, root exudates, tannins, lignin, perfluorooctanoic acid, short-chain PFAS, leafy vegetables
- MeSH terms
- Farms, Biological Availability, China, Fluorocarbons, Plants, Edible, Soil, Soil Pollutants
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