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Enhanced extracellular polymeric substances production defending microalgal cells against the stress of tetrabromobisphenol A

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Abstract

Microalgal cells are the major contributors of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in the marine environment, which could be influenced by exogenous pollutants exposure. As the most dominant brominated flame retardant worldwide, studies on the influence of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) on microalgal cells and EPS production are rare. Therefore, we systemically investigated the physiological-biochemical responses of the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana to TBBPA exposure and the roles of EPS. Our results indicated that the half effective concentrations (EC50) of TBBPA on T. pseudonana were 1.67–3.22 mg L−1 from 24 to 96 h; Photosynthetic damage, cellular materials increase, cellular oxidative stress and cell death were found under the toxicity of TBBPA, in which cellular materials increase and oxidative stress were positively correlated with the increase of EPS contents. The increase of soluble and bound EPS contents, protein/carbohydrate ratios together with the EPS addition assays indicated the protective effects of EPS to alleviate the toxicity of TBBPA. Increased microalgal EPS secretions and protein/carbohydrate ratios also happened under the environmental TBBPA concentration (2 μg L−1), which might accelerate the organic matters aggregation process especially in coastal areas.

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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance from Dr. Hongbing Shao from Ocean University of China for the operations of flow cytometer.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Marine S&T Fund of Shandong Province for Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (2022QNLM040002-2; LSKJ202203206), and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Providence (No. ZR202112020056).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Marine Life Sciences, Department of Marine Ecology, Ocean University of China, 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao, 266003, Shandong, China

    Luying Li, Xuexi Tang, Yirong Zhao, Bihan Zhang & Yan Zhao

  2. Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Xuexi Tang & Yan Zhao

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  1. Luying Li
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  2. Xuexi Tang
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  4. Bihan Zhang
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  5. Yan Zhao
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the conception and design of study. Luying Li: Data curation, formal analysis and writing -original draft; Xuexi Tang: Supervision; Yirong Zhao: Data analyses; Bihan Zhang: Data analyses; Yan Zhao: Conceptualization and writing-review & editing.

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Correspondence to Yan Zhao.

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Li, L., Tang, X., Zhao, Y. et al. Enhanced extracellular polymeric substances production defending microalgal cells against the stress of tetrabromobisphenol A. J Appl Phycol 35, 2945–2956 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-023-03093-x

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