Cellular accumulation of cesium in the unicellular red alga Galdieria sulphuraria under mixotrophic conditions

Journal of Applied Phycology volume 30, pages3057–3061(2018)Cite this article

Abstract

As a consequence of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident which occurred in Japan in 2011, huge amounts of radioactive cesium (Cs) spread across a large area at low concentrations. Bioremediation is known as an effective method for the recovery and concentration of metals at low concentrations. In the present study we showed that G. sulphuraria cells recovered 52 ± 15% of the Cs present in a potassium-deficient medium containing 30 μg L−1 Cs in 10 days. Because of the advantages in biotechnological use, G. sulphuraria is a good candidate for the decontamination of radioactive Cs. In G. sulphuraria cells, Cs was accumulated specifically under mixotrophic condition of the three different culture conditions used (autotorophic, mixotrophic, and heterotrophic condition). Cells in the early logarithmic phase of growth did not accumulate Cs, whereas those in the late logarithmic phase did. Cs accumulated in the cell exists mainly in a soluble form (e.g., salt, chelating complex).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the radiation safety management and chemical analysis division at University of Tsukuba for their technical support.

Funding

This study was supported by a research grant from Takahashi Industrial and Economic Research Foundation (to A. M.) and JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 18 K05922 (to A. M.) and Grant-in-Aid for Exploratory Research from JSPS (25550060) and by Great East Japan Earthquake Recovery and Rebirth Assistance Program in 2012 and 2013 from University of Tsukuba, Japan.

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Author notes

  1. Shin-ya Fukuda and Ayumi Minoda contributed equally to this work

Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaragi, 305-8572, Japan

    Shin-ya Fukuda, Rie Yamamoto, Koji Iwamoto & Ayumi Minoda

  2. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Koji Iwamoto

Authors
  1. Shin-ya Fukuda
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  2. Rie Yamamoto
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  3. Koji Iwamoto
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  4. Ayumi Minoda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ayumi Minoda.

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Fukuda, Sy., Yamamoto, R., Iwamoto, K. et al. Cellular accumulation of cesium in the unicellular red alga Galdieria sulphuraria under mixotrophic conditions. J Appl Phycol 30, 3057–3061 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-018-1525-z

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Keywords

  • Bioremediation
  • Galdieria sulphuraria
  • Rhodophyceae
  • Radioactive cesium
  • Biological concentration