Arsenic Accumulation and Biotransformation Affected by Nutrients (N and P) in Common Blooming-Forming Microcystis wesenbergii (Komárek) Komárek ex Komárek (Cyanobacteria)

Abstract

Arsenic accumulation and biotransformation in algae was mostly carried out in a medium that contained far higher nutrient concentrations than that in natural freshwaters. The obtained results might have limited environmental validity and result in a failure to describe authentic arsenic biogeochemical cycles in natural freshwater systems. To validate the assumption, arsenic accumulation, and biotransformation in common bloom forming Microcystis wesenbergii was performed under a high nutrient concentration in BG11 medium (N = 250 mg/L, P = 7.13 mg/L), and adjusted low nutrients that mimicked values in natural freshwaters (N = 1.5 mg/L, P = 0.3 mg/L). The growth rate and maximum M. wesenbergii cell density were much lower in the high nutrient set, but more inhibition was shown with increasing ambient iAs(V) concentrations both in the high and low nutrient sets. The proportion of intracellular contents in total arsenicals decreased with increasing iAs(V) concentrations in both high and low nutrient sets but increased with incubation time. Intracellular iAs(III) was not found in the high nutrient set, while it formed high concentrations that could be comparable to that of an extracellular level in the low nutrient set. M. wesenbergii could methylate arsenic, and a higher proportion of organoarsenicals was formed in the low nutrient set. Lower intracellular MMA(V) and DMA(V) concentrations were found in the high nutrient set; contrarily, they presented a higher concentration that could be comparable to the extracellular ones in the low nutrient set. The results demonstrated that different nutrient regimes could affect arsenic accumulation and biotransformation in M. wesenbergii, and low nutrient concentrations could inhibit the excretion of iAs(III), MMA(V) and DMA(V) out of cells. Further investigations should be based on natural freshwater systems to obtain an authentic arsenic accumulation and biotransformation in cyanobacteria.