Abstract
A Cd-binding complex was isolated from Chlorella fusca and has been shown to be composed of phytochelating peptides, (γ-Glu-Cys) n -Gly, n=2–5. Members of six of the ten classes of Phycophyta revealed phytochelatin synthesis after exposure to cadmium ions. Phytochelatin was also induced by ions of lead, zinc, silver, copper and mercury. These experiments uneqiovocally demonstrated that algae sequester heavy metals by an identical mechanism as higher plants, namely via complexation to phytochelatins.
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Gekeler, W., Grill, E., Winnacker, EL. et al. Algae sequester heavy metals via synthesis of phytochelatin complexes. Arch. Microbiol. 150, 197–202 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00425162
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00425162