1. Transcriptomic and Physiological Responses of the Green Microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii during Short-Term Exposure to Subnanomolar Methylmercury Concentrations
- Author
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Rebecca Beauvais-Flück, Claudia Cosio, Vera I. Slaveykova, Reims Champagne-Ardenne, BU de, Forel Institute, and University of Geneva [Switzerland]
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Chlamydomonas reinhardtii ,Motility ,010501 environmental sciences ,Biology ,Photosynthetic efficiency ,medicine.disease_cause ,01 natural sciences ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Botany ,ddc:550 ,medicine ,Microalgae ,Environmental Chemistry ,Methylmercury ,Chlorophyll fluorescence ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,[SDV.TOX.ECO] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Toxicology/Ecotoxicology ,Lipid metabolism ,General Chemistry ,Metabolism ,Methylmercury Compounds ,biology.organism_classification ,Oxidative Stress ,030104 developmental biology ,chemistry ,Biochemistry ,[SDV.TOX.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Toxicology/Ecotoxicology ,Transcriptome ,Oxidative stress - Abstract
The effects of short-term exposure to subnanomolar methyl-mercury (MeHg) concentrations, representative of contaminated environments, on the microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were assessed using both physiological end points and gene expression analysis. MeHg bioaccumulated and induced significant increase of the photosynthesis efficiency, while the algal growth, oxidative stress, and chlorophyll fluorescence were unaffected. At the molecular level, MeHg significantly dysregulated the expression of genes involved in motility, energy metabolism, lipid metabolism, metal transport, and antioxidant enzymes. Data suggest that the cells were able to cope with subnanomolar MeHg exposure, but this tolerance resulted in a significant cost to the cell energy and reserve metabolism as well as ample changes in the nutrition and motility of C. reinhardtii. The present results allowed gaining new insights on the effects and uptake mechanisms of MeHg at subnanomolar concentrations in aquatic primary producers.
- Published
- 2016