Tolerance and metabolic responses of Cyanidiophytina (Rhodophyta) towards exposition to Cl4K2Pd and AuCl4K

Abstract

Polyextremophilic algae, such as unicellular red algae known as Cyanidiophyceae, have the intrinsic capacity to selectively mobilize and adsorb metals, since they are adapted to live in geothermal and volcanic sites characterized by elevated concentration of heavy and rare metals. In this work we evaluated the ability of 3 strains of the genus Galdieria (G. maxima, G. sulphuraria, G. phlegrea) along with one strain of Cyanidium caldarium to tolerate different concentrations of rare metal as Cl₄K₂Pd and AuCl₄K by monitoring changes in algal growth in culture exposed to different concentration of each metal and investigating algae metabolic response and possible oxidative stress induced by these metals.