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Effects of aluminium on ATP pools and utilization in the cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica : a model for the in vivo toxicity
Author(s) -
Pettersson Annette,
Bergman Birgitta
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
physiologia plantarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.351
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1399-3054
pISSN - 0031-9317
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-3054.1989.tb05473.x
Subject(s) - phosphate , chemistry , lysis , biochemistry , adenosine triphosphate , cyanobacteria , aluminium sulfate , biology , aluminium , biophysics , bacteria , genetics , organic chemistry
ATP pools extracted from the cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica , grown in the absence or presence of AlCl 3 , were measured using the luciferin‐luciferase assay. Addition of low concentrations of AlCl 3 (3.6–36 μ M ) increased the ATP pool 20–40% within 24 h, the effect being more marked with time. When using the Tris‐EDTA boiling technique for extraction of cellular ATP, the ATP from aluminium‐exposed cells appeared more stable during the extraction than the ATP from untreated cells. The higher ATP pools in aluminium‐exposed cells were also evident after dark treatment and addition of the phosphorylating inhibitors carbonylcyanide m ‐chloro‐phenylhydrazone (CCCP) and N,N‐dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD). The formation of elevated ATP pools in cells exposed to aluminium was curtailed by high concentrations of cellular phosphate and postincubation at high pH (>8). These results favour the hypothesis that intracellular aluminium binds to ATP by competing with Mg 2+ and, as a consequence, the stable Al 3+ ‐ATP complex formed is no longer available for cellular metabolism. The cyanobacterium is assumed to compensate by increasing the total pool of ATP. At high AlCl 3 ‐concentrations, and in particular at low phosphate: aluminium molar ratios (<1), aluminium apparently also interferes with the membranes in A. cylindrica as indicated by inhibited O 2 production, reduced ATP production and cell lysis.