Cadmium chelation by frustulins: a novel metal tolerance mechanism in Nitzschia palea (Kützing) W. Smith

Ecotoxicology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Santos ◽  
Salomé F. P. Almeida ◽  
Etelvina Figueira
Environments ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Sandra Kim Tiam ◽  
Isabelle Lavoie ◽  
Fengjie Liu ◽  
Paul B. Hamilton ◽  
Claude Fortin

The relative tolerance of four diatoms (Nitzschia palea, Pinnularia mesolepta, Mayamaea atomus, and Gomphonema truncatum) to Cd was evaluated, including their proneness to deformities, and the severity of the abnormalities in relation to Cd concentration. The indirect effect of Cd on photosynthetic capacities was assessed during a short time exposure experiment using a dose-response approach to evaluate the relative tolerance of the four diatom species. The EC25 were 9 (3, 23), 606 (348, 926), 1179 (1015, 1349) and 2394 (1890, 2896) µg/L for P. mesolepta, G. truncatum, N. palea, and M. atomus respectively. P. mesolepta was by far the most Cd sensitive species while M. atomus was the most tolerant. In addition, diatoms were exposed to a single concentration of Cd comparable to a heavily contaminated environment for a longer duration to evaluate the effect of Cd on growth kinetics and the deformities induced. N. palea, P. mesolepta, and M. atomus were able to grow when cultivated with Cd while G. truncatum was not. Cadmium strongly affected the effective quantum yield in G. truncatum (4.8 ± 5.9% of the control) and P. mesolepta cultures (29.2 ± 6.9% of the control). The effects were moderate for N. palea (88.3 ± 0.7% of the control) and no impact was observed for M. atomus. The results from the two approaches were in accordance since they identified N. palea and M. atomus as the two most tolerant species to Cd, while P. mesolepta and G. truncatum were the most sensitive. The microscopy analyses revealed that P. mesolepta was more impacted by Cd than N. palea and M. atomus considering both the quantity of abnormal cells and the severity of the deformities. Overall, this research shows that not all deformities can be considered equal for a water quality bio-assessment. The work highlights a need to take into account metal-tolerance/sensitivity of the species and the severity of the deformities.


2009 ◽  
Vol 418 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Edmond ◽  
Toshiro Shigaki ◽  
Sophie Ewert ◽  
Matthew D. Nelson ◽  
James M. Connorton ◽  
...  

Internal compartmentalization of metals is an important metal tolerance mechanism in many organisms. In plants and fungi, sequestration into the vacuole is a major detoxification mechanism for metals. Cation transport into the vacuole can be mediated by CAX (cation exchanger) transporters. The Arabidopsis thaliana AtCAX2 transporter was shown previously to transport Ca2+, Cd2+ and Mn2+. To assess the conservation of the functional and regulatory characteristics of CAX2-like transporters in higher plants, we have characterized AtCAX2 orthologues from Arabidopsis (AtCAX5), tomato (LeCAX2) and barley (HvCAX2). Substrate specificity and regulatory activity were assessed using a yeast heterologous-expression assay. Each CAX could transport Ca2+ and Mn2+ into the yeast vacuole, but they each had different cation transport kinetics. Most notably, there was variation in the regulation of the transporters. As found with AtCAX2 previously, only expression of an N-terminally truncated form of AtCAX5 in yeast was able to mediate Ca2+ and Mn2+ transport, indicating that activity may be controlled by an autoregulatory region at the N-terminus. In contrast, either full-length or truncated LeCAX2 could efficiently transport Ca2+, although Mn2+ transport was controlled by the N-terminus. HvCAX2 did not appear to possess an N-terminal regulatory domain. Expression of AtCAX2 was not significantly modulated by metal stress; however, AtCAX5 and HvCAX2 were transcriptionally up-regulated by high Mn2+ treatment, and by Ca2+ and Na+ stress respectively. It is therefore apparent that, despite the high sequence identity between plant CAX2 orthologues, there is significant diversity in their functional characteristics, particularly with regard to regulatory mechanisms.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 598
Author(s):  
Muneeba Qurban ◽  
Cyrus Raza Mirza ◽  
Aqib Hassan Ali Khan ◽  
Walid Khalifa ◽  
Mustapha Boukendakdji ◽  
...  

The problem of metal-induced toxicity is proliferating with an increase in industrialization and urbanization. The buildup of metals results in severe environmental deterioration and harmful impacts on plant growth. In this study, we investigated the potential of two ornamental plants, Catharanthus roseus (L.) G.Don and Celosia argentea L., to tolerate and accumulate Ni, Cr, Cd, Pb, and Cu. These ornamental plants were grown in Hoagland’s nutrient solution containing metal loads (50 µM and 100 µM) alone and in combination with a synthetic chelator, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) (2.5 mM). Plant growth and metal tolerance varied in both plant species for Ni, Cr, Cd, Pb, and Cu. C. roseus growth was better in treatments without EDTA, particularly in Ni, Cr, and Pb treatments, and Pb content increased in all parts of the plant. In contrast, Cd content decreased with EDTA addition. In C. argentea, the addition of EDTA resulted in improved plant biomass at both doses of Cu. In contrast, plant biomass reduced significantly in the case of Ni. In C. argentea, without EDTA, root length in Cd and Cu treatments was significantly lower than the control and other treatments. However, the addition of EDTA resulted in improved growth at both doses for Pb and Cu. Metal accumulation in C. argentea enhanced significantly with EDTA addition at both doses of Cu and Cd. Hence, it can be concluded that EDTA addition resulted in improved growth and better metal uptake than treatments without EDTA. Metal accumulation increased with EDTA addition compared to treatments without EDTA, particularly for Pb in C. roseus and Cu and Cd in C. argentea. Based on the present results, C. roseus showed a better ability to phytostabilize Cu, Cd, and Ni, while C. argentea worked better for Ni, Cd, Cu, and Pb.


Author(s):  
Kashaf Junaid ◽  
Hasan Ejaz ◽  
Iram Asim ◽  
Sonia Younas ◽  
Humaira Yasmeen ◽  
...  

This study evaluates bacteriological profiles in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods and assesses antibiotic resistance, extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) production by gram-negative bacteria, and heavy metal tolerance. In total, 436 retail food samples were collected and cultured. The isolates were screened for ESBL production and molecular detection of ESBL-encoding genes. Furthermore, all isolates were evaluated for heavy metal tolerance. From 352 culture-positive samples, 406 g-negative bacteria were identified. Raw food samples were more often contaminated than refined food (84.71% vs. 76.32%). The predominant isolates were Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 76), Enterobacter cloacae (n = 58), and Escherichia coli (n = 56). Overall, the percentage of ESBL producers was higher in raw food samples, although higher occurrences of ESBL-producing E. coli (p = 0.01) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (p = 0.02) were observed in processed food samples. However, the prevalence of ESBL-producing Citrobacter freundii in raw food samples was high (p = 0.03). Among the isolates, 55% were blaCTX-M, 26% were blaSHV, and 19% were blaTEM. Notably, heavy metal resistance was highly prevalent in ESBL producers. These findings demonstrate that retail food samples are exposed to contaminants including antibiotics and heavy metals, endangering consumers.


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