PAHs pass through the cell wall and partition into organelles of arbuscular mycorrhizal roots of ryegrass.

The subcellular process and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in arbuscular mycorrhizal plants remains to be elucidated. This work used a greenhouse experiment to show that, accompanied by the apoplastic and symplastic water movement through the root, acenaphthene (ACE) as a representative PAH passed through the cell-wall boundary, dissolved in the cell solution, and partition organelles in arbuscular mycorrhizal roots of ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.). The observed concentrations of ACE in organelles were 0.6 to 4.4 times higher than in the cell walls. The cell wall and organelles were the dominant storage domains for ACE in the root, and the distribution of ACE in cells of mycorrhizal ryegrass roots was, in descending order, cell organelles (40.8-70.8%) > cell wall (19.7-3.8%) cell solution (9.6-20.5%).