Mercury-Induced Inhibition of Photosystem II Activity and Changes in the Emission of Fluorescence from Phycobilisomes in Intact Cells of the Cyanobacterium, Spirulina platensis
- 1 December 1989
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Plant and Cell Physiology
- Vol. 30 (8) , 1153-1157
- https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pcp.a077858
Abstract
Addition of low concentrations of mercury chloride (HgCl2 to intact cells of the cyanobacterium, Spirulina platensis caused an enhancement in the intensity of fluorescence emitted from phycocyanin at room temperature and induced blue shifts in the emission peak suggestive of changes in energy transfer within the phycobilisomes. HgCl2 also suppressed the whole-chain electron transport activity (H2O → methylviologen) at much lower concentrations than that required to inhibit Hill activity supported by para-benzoquinone. The extent of inhibition of Hill activity was much higher under high-intensity light than that under low-intensity light. Our results indicate that mercury ions at low concentrations affect the transfer of energy within phycobilisomes and at high concentrations they inhibit electron transport in this cyanobacterium.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: