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Environmental and Stress Physiology

Aluminum Effects on Uptake and Metabolism of Phosphorus by the Cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica

Institute of Physiological Botany, University of Uppsala, Box 540, S-751 21 Uppsala, Sweden

Aluminum severely affects the growth of the cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica and induces symptoms indicating phosphorus starvation. Preor post-treating the cells with high (90 micromolar) phosphorus reduces the toxicity of aluminum compared to cells receiving a lower orthophosphate concentration. In this study aluminum (ranging from 9 to 36 micromolar) and phosphorus concentrations were chosen so that the precipitation of insoluble AIPO₄ never exceeded 10% of the total phosphate concentration. The uptake of ³²P-phosphorus is not disturbed by aluminum either at high (100 micromolar) or low (10 micromolar) concentrations of phosphate. Also, the rapid accumulation of polyphosphate granules in cells exposed to aluminum indicates that the incorporation of phosphate is not disturbed. However, a significant decrease in the mobilization of the polyphosphates is observed, as is a lowered activity of the enzyme acid phosphatase, in aluminum treated cells. We conclude that aluminum acts on the intracellular metabolism of phosphate, which eventually leads to phosphorus starvation rather than on its uptake in the cyanobacterium A. cylindrica.