The protective role of selenium against uptake and accumulation of cadmium and lead in white oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) and pink oyster (Pleurotus djamor) mushrooms

ABSTRACT

Mushrooms are bioaccumulators and have been used to produce Se-enriched foods. However, these fungi can also bioaccumulate potentially toxic metals, producing food dangerous to human health. It is known that co-exposure to Se plays a protective role against metal accumulation and toxicity in some organisms due to its antioxidant properties. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the protective effect of Se(IV) and Se(VI) on elemental uptake and accumulation as well as proteins and protein-bound Se, Cd, and Pb distribution in Pleurotus mushrooms. Pink oyster and white oyster mushrooms showed high ability to bioaccumulate Se (19–205 µg g⁻¹), Cd (4.5 to 18.8 µg g⁻¹), and Pb (1.6 to 7.0 µg g⁻¹). Growth substrate supplementation with Se(IV) or Se(VI) decreased the Cd total concentration in mushrooms by 4 to 89%, while Se(VI) increased the Pb total concentration by 9% to 187%, compared to growth in absence of Se. It was found that despite molecular weights distributions of mushrooms grown on Se(IV) and Se(VI)-supplemented substrates being similar, Se(VI) supplementation favoured Se interaction with proteins of medium molecular weight (17–44 kDa), when compared to supplementation with Se(IV). Therefore, we propose the supplementation of growth substrates with Se(VI) to reduce eventual Cd accumulation and produce Se-enriched oyster mushrooms.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Edible mushroom
• oyster mushroom
• Pleurotus ostreatus
• Pleurotus djamor
• antagonism
• selenium
• cadmium
• lead

Acknowledgments

Aline Pereira de Oliveira and Juliana Naozuka (2017/05009-7, 2018/06332-9, and 2019/00663-9) are grateful to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo/FAPESP for the financial support.

Compliance with ethics requirements

The authors have no conflict of interest and the paper does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo/FAPESP [2017/05009-7,2018/06332-9,2019/00663-9].