The toxicity of cadmium ion (Cd2+) to phycocyanin: an in vitro spectroscopic study

By Zhenxing Chi, Songwen Tan, Xu Tan, Lin Zhong, Weiguo Li

October 11, 2018

  • Year

  • Technique

  • Industry

Title

The toxicity of cadmium ion (Cd2+) to phycocyanin: an in vitro spectroscopic study

Author

Zhenxing Chi, Songwen Tan, Xu Tan, Lin Zhong, Weiguo Li

Year

2018

Journal

Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Abstract

The pollution of heavy metals is a severer problem for the ecosystems in waters. The toxicity of Cd2+ on phycocyanin (PC) is studied in molecular level in this work. The fluorescence quenching of PC is observed by the adding Cd2+ from 0 to 500 × 10−7 mol L−1. From the theoretical calculation and the time-resolved fluorescence decay profiles, the fluorescence quenching of PC by Cd2+ is found to be static. The synchronous fluorescence spectra are used to study the change in amino acid residues of PC molecules, indicating that the effect of Cd2+ on the Trp of PC is more significant than the Tyr. The UV-Vis absorbance of tetrapyrrole decreases from 0.26 to 0.23 cps with increasing Cd2+ concentration, suggesting that Cd2+ affects the light adsorption and the photosynthesis function of PC. The circular dichroism spectra reveal that adding Cd2+ also changes the secondary structure (α-helix) of PC.

Full Article

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-018-1686-y

Instrument

J-810

Keywords

Circular dichroism, Secondary structure, Chemical stability, Biochemistry, Agriculture and environmental