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A circadian clock regulates sensitivity to cadmium in Paramecium tetraurelia

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Abstract

The heavy metal cadmium is a dangerous environmental toxicant that can be lethal to humans and other organisms. This paper demonstrates that cadmium is lethal to the ciliated protozoan Paramecium tetraurelia and that a circadian clock modulates the sensitivity of the cells to cadmium. Various concentrations of cadmium were shown to increase the number of behavioral responses, decrease the swimming speed of cells, and generate large vacuole formation in cells prior to death. Cells were grown in either 12-h light/12-h dark or constant dark conditions exhibited a toxic response to 500 μM CdCl2; the sensitivity of the response was found to vary with a 24-h periodicity. Cells were most sensitive to cadmium at circadian time 0 (CT0), while they were least sensitive in the early evening (CT12). This rhythm persisted even when the cells were grown in constant dark. The oscillation in cadmium sensitivity was shown to be temperature-compensated; cells grown at 18°C and 28°C had a similar 24-h oscillation. Finally, phase shifting experiments demonstrated a phase-dependent response to light. These data establish the criteria required for a circadian clock and demonstrate that P. tetraurelia possesses a circadian-influenced regulatory component of the cadmium toxic response. The Paramecium system is shown to be an excellent model system for the study of the effects of biological rhythms on heavy metal toxicity.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Kirsten Juhasz for assistance during the course of this work. Also, we thank Dr. Thomas Simmons and the members of the Hinrichsen laboratory for discussions throughout the course of the research. J.T. was supported by the Graduate School of Indiana University of Pennsylvania. R.H. was supported by grants from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Faculty Professional Development Council grant from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

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  1. Joseph R. Tran

    Present address: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

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  1. Department of Biology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 975 Oakland Avenue, Indiana, PA, 15705, USA

    Robert D. Hinrichsen

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Hinrichsen, R.D., Tran, J.R. A circadian clock regulates sensitivity to cadmium in Paramecium tetraurelia . Cell Biol Toxicol 26, 379–389 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10565-010-9150-x

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