Abstract
Microcystis aeruginosa is one of the most common algae found in eutrophicated water bodies. Alkaline phosphatase (AKP) can be produced by Microcystis aeruginosa to utilize organic phosphates under phosphorus deficiency stress, thereby AKP can be regarded as an important indicator for algal growth. Sulfur compounds are ubiquitous in waters, while investigation on the interactions between sulfur compounds and Microcystis aeruginosa is limited. In this work, we introduced 33 types of sulfur compounds to culture Microcystis aeruginosa, and the results demonstrated that algal growth is positively related to AKP activities. Toxicity of organic sulfur compounds was further evaluated using Toxicity Estimation Software Tool based on quantitative structure-activity relationship prediction. The algal growth results exhibited strong correlation to the toxicity endpoints suggesting the organic sulfur compounds inhibits the algal growth as toxic matters. K-means cluster analyses have been carried out subsequently via Python based on the results of algal growth and AKP activities of each sample and statistically, the sulfur compounds can be adequately clustered into 2 groups. According to clustering results, sulfonic acids exhibit low toxicity while sulfur amino acids can be considered as more toxic compounds.
Varied sulfur compounds (33 types) were investigated to find out the interactions between them and Microcystis aeruginosa, a common alga. K-means cluster and correlation analyses demonstrate that algal growth and alkaline phosphatase activities exhibited strong correlation to the predicted toxicity endpoints.
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Funding
This project was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (no. 2018YFC1508705-3) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 51509003 and 51909266). Drs. Xiao Zhao and Chaozi Wang are grateful for the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 51809267 and 51909264) and China Agricultural University Startup Fund (grant number: 2018QC169).
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Authors En Xie, Fangfang Li, Chaozi Wang, Wei Shi, and Chen Huang aided in preparing/carrying out all the experiments and in drafting the manuscript. En Xie, Xiao Zhao, Keyu Fa, and Dayi Zhang designed and led all the experiments and the construction of the final version of the submitted manuscript.
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Xie, E., Li, F., Wang, C. et al. Roles of sulfur compounds in growth and alkaline phosphatase activities of Microcystis aeruginosa under phosphorus deficiency stress. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 21533–21541 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08480-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08480-2