Cell Death and Metabolic Stress in Gymnodinium catenatum Induced by Allelopathy

• Published in: Toxins Vol. 13; no. 7; p. 506
• Main Authors: Fernández-Herrera, Leyberth José, Band-Schmidt, Christine Johanna, Zenteno-Savín, Tania, Leyva-Valencia, Ignacio, Hernández-Guerrero, Claudia Judith, Muñoz-Ochoa, Mauricio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 20.07.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Allelopathy; Allelopathy - physiology; Apoptosis; Caspase-3; Cell activation; Cell Death; Cellular stress response; Dinoflagellates; Dinoflagellida; Enzymes; Gymnodinium catenatum; harmful algae; Lipid peroxidation; Marine Toxins - toxicity; Media; Metabolism; Metabolites; Microorganisms; Mortality; Physiological effects; Phytoplankton; Proteins; reactive oxygen species; Stress; Stress, Physiological - physiology; Superoxide dismutase; Superoxides; Thiobarbituric acid; allelopathy; apoptosis; harmful algae; reactive oxygen species; caspase-3
• ISSN: 2072-6651; 2072-6651
• DOI: 10.3390/toxins13070506

Allelopathy between phytoplankton species can promote cellular stress and programmed cell death (PCD). The raphidophyte var. , and the dinoflagellates and have allelopathic effects on ; however, the physiological mechanisms are unknown. We evaluated whether the allelopathic effect promotes cellular stress and activates PCD in . Cultures of were exposed to cell-free media of var. , and . The mortality, superoxide radical (O ) production, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, protein content, and caspase-3 activity were quantified. Mortality (between 57 and 79%) was registered in after exposure to cell-free media of the three species. The maximal O production occurred with var cell-free media. The highest TBARS levels and SOD activity in were recorded with cell-free media from . The highest protein content was recorded with cell-free media from . All cell-free media caused an increase in the activity of caspase-3. These results indicate that the allelopathic effect in promotes cell stress and caspase-3 activation, as a signal for the induction of programmed cell death.