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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Differential responses of Pleurochrysis sp. (Haptophyta) to the effect of copper and light intensity

Ekaterina Solomonova https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5373-4954 A * , Natalia Shoman A , Arkadii Akimov A and Olga Rylkova A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Moscow Representative Office A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky Avenue, 38, Moscow 119991, Russian Federation.

* Correspondence to: solomonov83@mail.ru

Handling Editor: Honghong Wu

Functional Plant Biology 49(12) 1085-1094 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP22101
Submitted: 12 May 2022  Accepted: 13 August 2022   Published: 5 September 2022

© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

The effect of light, copper ions, copper oxide nanoparticles on the change in the structural, functional, cytometric, fluorescent parameters of coccolithophore Pleurochrysis sp. was investigated. The culture Pleurochrysis sp. was represented by two cell forms: (1) covered with coccoliths; and (2) not covered, the ratio of which depends from growth conditions. An increase in light from 20 to 650 μE m−2 s−1 led to a decrease in the concentration of cells covered with coccoliths from 90 to 35%. With an increase in light, the decrease in the values of variable chlorophyll a fluorescence was observed, a decrease in the chlorophyll concentration was noted, and an increase in cell volumes and their granularity due to coccoliths ‘overproduction’ was recorded. A tolerance of Pleurochrysis sp. to the effect of copper was registered, both in the ionic form and in the form of a nanopowder. This is probably due to the morphological (presence of coccoliths) and physiological (ligand production) peculiarities of species. Copper did not affect the ratio of cells covered with coccoliths; its value was about 85%. Growth inhibition, a 2-fold decrease in the intracellular chlorophyll content, a decrease in Fv/Fm, and a pronounced cell coagulation were recorded at the maximum Cu2+ concentration (625 μg L−1). The mechanical effect was registered of CuO nanoparticles on the surface of Pleurochrysis sp. coccosphere, which results in the emergence of destroyed and deformed coccoliths. A hypothesis is proposed considering the protective function of coccoliths acting as a barrier when the cells are exposed to nanoparticles and copper ions.

Keywords: coccolithophore, copper ions, copper oxide nanoparticles, flow cytometry, light intensity, microalgae, microscopy, pigment, specific growth rate.


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