PFCA uptake and translocation in dominant wheat species (Triticum aestivum L.)

The comparative uptake of four perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) by wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in nutrient solution was investigated. Wheat is the main food crop in northern China and may become a potential pathway of human exposure to these PFCAs. The uptake of four PFCAs from water at a fixed concentration (1 μg/mL) increased over time, approaching a steady state, and except for the short-chain perfluorobutanoic acid, most of the total mass of each of the PFCAs taken up by wheat was found to be at the root. The root concentration factor (RCF) and shoot/root concentration factor (SRCF) were calculated, and with the increase in carbon chain length, the RCFs increased but SRCFs decreased, which indicated that long-chain PFCAs had stronger root uptake and weaker translocation capacities than short-chain PFCAs. In addition, pH could obviously impact the uptake of four PFCAs in the roots and shoots of wheat, and the highest concentrations were found at pH = 7 when the pH increased from 4 to 10.