Toxic effect of nickel on microalgae Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Bacillariophyceae)

Nickel acts as an essential trace nutrient or toxicant for organisms, depending on its concentration. The increased concentrations of nickel, due to anthropogenic activity, in the aquatic environment are potential threats to aquatic organisms. However, the knowledge on toxic mechanisms of nickel to microalgae remains incompletely understood. In the present study, we investigated the toxic effects of nickel in the cosmopolitan diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum via evaluation of physiological and transcriptome responses. The results showed that the median effective concentration-72 h (EC₅₀-72 h) and EC₅₀-96 h of nickel was 2.48 ± 0.33 and 1.85 ± 0.17 mg/L, respectively. The P. tricornutum cell abundance and photosynthesis significantly decreased by 1 mg/L of nickel. Results from photosynthetic parameters including efficiency of the oxygen evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II (PSII) (Fv/F₀), maximum photosynthetic efficiency of PS II (Fv/Fm), electron transport rate (ETR), actual photosynthetic efficiency of PS II (Y(II)), non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), and photochemical quenching (qP) indicated that OEC of PS II might be impaired by nickel. The transcriptome data also reveal that OEC apparatus coding gene PS II oxygen-evolving enhancer protein 2 (PsbP) was regulated by nickel. Moreover, induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and chlorophyll a content were also detected under nickel stress. Transcriptome analysis revealed that nickel affected a variety of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that involved in redox homeostasis, nitrogen metabolisms, fatty acids, and DNA metabolism. However, thiol-disulfide redox system might play important roles in nickel-induced oxidative stress resistance. This study improved the understanding of the toxic effect of nickel on the diatom P. tricornutum.