Elucidation of the defence mechanism in microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana under mercury exposure. Identification of Hg-phytochelatins.

Algae and aquatic macrophytes are capable of accumulating heavy metals up to concentrations several orders of magnitude higher than those existing in their surrounding environment. Investigation of mercury toxicology in microalgae is of great interest from ecological point of view, since they could be used as bioindicator to evaluate aquatic ecosystems affected by Hg pollution. In this study, we have performed an exposure experiment focused on the biological response of microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana, a unicellular model organism, to Hg-induced toxicity. The culture was exposed to different concentrations of this element for nine days, namely 0.5, 1, 5 and 10mg L(-1) of HgCl2 (as Hg). To achieve a better understanding of the biological mechanisms triggered by Hg-induced toxicity in this alga a metallomic approach based on SEC-ICP-ORS-MS was applied to survey biomarkers of biological response to mercury contamination in surface water. In addition, the combination of RP-HPLC-ICP-ORS-MS and RP-HPLC-ESI-QqQ-TOF-MS was applied to identify, for the first time, two Hg-binding phytochelatins in this aquatic organism, using cell extracts from microalgae exposed to inorganic mercury.