Effect Mechanism of Low-level PFOS Isomers to A. thaliana Leaves Using High-throughput Untargeted Metabolomics

The ecotoxicity of perfluorooctane sulfonate(PFOS) to plants has been reported, but the lack of study on the effect of PFOS isomers is of concern. In this paper, the effect mechanism of Arabidopsis thaliana ( A. thaliana ) against two different concentrations of L -PFOS or perfluoro-3-methylheptanesulfonate (P3MHpS) was investigated via metabolomics. The metabolism of Arabidopsis thaliana leaves was investigated via the metabolomics strategy and statistical analysis. And 41 biomarkers for L -PFOS and 32 biomarkers for P3MHpS were found and identified. There was no significant difference of saccharides between L -PFOS and P3MHpS. More amino acids were affected by P3MHpS than by L -PFOS in high-level exposure group, while the opposite phenomenon was observed in low-level exposure group. More phytohormones were affected by L -PFOS than by P3MHpS in the high-level exposure group, however, the elevated level of indole phytohormones was significantly higher by P3MHpS than by L -PFOS. The level of up-regulation of (poly)phenols in L -PFOS group was significantly higher than that in P3MHpS group. The affected aliphatic glucosinolate metabolism was firstly observed with higher up-regulation induced by L -PFOS than by P3MHpS. New insight of phytotoxicity of PFOS isomers to plants was provided.