1H‐Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Metabolomics Analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana Exposed to Perfluorooctanoic Acid and Perfluoroctanesulfonic Acid

Abstract Perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants that are widely used in consumer products and fire suppression foams. The presence of PFAS in ground and surface water can create a route for PFAS to enter the soil, exposing ecosystems (including agroecosystems), where they will move through the food web via biomagnification. The toxicity of PFAS to plants, particularly in agricultural ecosystems, is of emerging concern due to the application of biosolids that are often contaminated with PFAS. Nevertheless, due to the low concentrations of PFAS in most agricultural soils, the direct impact of PFAS on plant health is not well understood. We used 1 H‐nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics to explore the effects of exposure of two key PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, on Arabidopsis thaliana , a model organism. We found that Arabidopsis exhibited an accumulation of multiple metabolites, including soluble sugars (glucose and sucrose), multiple amino acids, and tri‐carboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates, suggesting that PFAS exposure impacts the metabolism of plants by causing an accumulation of stress‐related amino acids and soluble sugars that drives increased activity of the TCA cycle. The present study shows that 1 H‐NMR metabolomics is a viable tool for investigating changes in the metabolic profile of plants exposed to PFAS and can be used to illuminate the stress response of plants in a high‐throughput, nonbiased manner. Environ Toxicol Chem 2023;42:663–672. © 2022 SETAC