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Mercury pretreatment selects an enhanced cadmium-accumulating phenotype in Euglena gracilis

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Abstract

Pre-treatment of heterotrophic cultures of Euglena gracilis with 1.5 μM HgCl2 for at least 60 generations resulted in a cell population that showed both increased resistance to Cd2+ and ability to accumulate it, when compared to non-Hg2+-pretreated Euglena. These Hg2+-enhanced capacities were evident in cells cultured in the dark in a medium with lactate, but not in cells cultured with glutamate plus malate. After culturing with 0.1 mM CdCl2 through three consecutive transfers, the mercury-pretreated cells still grew and maintained high levels of glutathione-related metabolites, while the non-Hg2+-pretreated cells died. Cultures of Hg2+-pretreated cells, after transfer to media with or without cadmium, did not alter either their enhanced Cd2+ accumulation or their increased production of glutathione-related metabolites. These observations suggested that the Hg2+-pretreated population underwent a permanent change that improved its Cd2+ resistance. Several factors that contributed to the improved capacities included: (a) higher cellular malate, cysteine and glutathione levels induced by Hg2+ before and after Cd2+ exposure; and (b) increased storage of Cd2+ in mitochondria along with increased intramitochondrial citrate, cysteine, and glutathione levels. These characteristics suggested that this Cd2+ hyper-accumulating strain of E. gracilis might be a suitable candidate for Cd2+-bioremediation of polluted water systems.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by a CONACYT-UC MEXUS (2001–2002) grant. CA acknowledges CONACYT for his scholarship. HLT acknowledges CONACYT grant 25199 N and DGAPA-UNAM grants IN205697and IN225001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología, DF. 14080, México, México

    César Avilés & Rafael Moreno-Sánchez

  2. Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular de Plantas, UNAM, Facultad de Química, Ciudad Universitaria, DF. 04510, México, México

    Herminia Loza-Tavera

  3. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–3102, USA

    Norman Terry

  4. Unidad de Biomedicina, Facultad de Estudios Superiores-Iztacala, UNAM, Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, Estado de Mexico 54090, México

    Rafael Moreno-Sánchez

  5. Sección XVI, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología, Juan Badiano 1, D. F. 14080, Tlalpan, México

    Rafael Moreno-Sánchez

Authors
  1. César Avilés
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  2. Herminia Loza-Tavera
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  3. Norman Terry
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  4. Rafael Moreno-Sánchez
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Correspondence to Rafael Moreno-Sánchez.

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Avilés, C., Loza-Tavera, H., Terry, N. et al. Mercury pretreatment selects an enhanced cadmium-accumulating phenotype in Euglena gracilis . Arch Microbiol 180, 1–10 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-003-0547-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-003-0547-2

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