Person:
Martín González, Ana María

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First Name
Ana María
Last Name
Martín González
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/74438
Affiliation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty / Institute
Ciencias Biológicas
Department
Genética, Fisiología y Microbiología
Area
Microbiología
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2023 - 20242
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Author: De Francisco Martínez, Patricia × Subject: 579 ×

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Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    Quantitative proteomic analyses of a Pb-adapted Tetrahymena thermophila strain reveal the cellular strategy to Pb(II) stress including lead biomineralization to chloropyromorphite
    (Science of the Total Environment, 2023) De Francisco Martínez, Patricia; Amaro Torres, Francisco; Martín González, Ana María; Aurelio Serrano; Gutiérrez Fernández, Juan Carlos
    A strain of the protozoan ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila adapted to increasing Pb(II) concentrations over two years has shown that one of the resistance mechanisms to this extreme metal stress is the lead biomineralization to chloropyromorphite, one of the most stable minerals in the earth's crust. Several techniques such as microanalysis coupled to transmission and scanning electron microscopy (X-Ray Energy Disperse Spectroscopy), fluorescence microscopy and X-ray power diffraction analysis have revealed the presence of chloropyromorphite as crystalline aggregates of nano-globular structure, together with the presence of other secondary lead minerals. This is the first time that the existence of this type of biomineralization in a ciliate protozoan is described. The Pb(II) bioremediation capacity of this strain has shown that it can remove >90 % of the toxic soluble lead from the medium. A quantitative proteomic analysis of this strain has revealed the main molecular-physiological elements involved in adaptation to Pb(II) stress: increased activity of proteolytic systems against lead proteotoxicity, occurrence of metallothioneins to immobilize Pb(II) ions, antioxidant enzymes to mitigate oxidative stress, and an intense vesicular trafficking presumably involved in the formation of vacuoles where pyromorphite accumulates and is subsequently excreted, together with an enhanced energy metabolism. As a conclusion, all these results have been compiled into an integrated model that could explain the eukaryotic cellular response to extreme lead stress.
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    Cellular response of adapted and non-adapted Tetrahymena thermophila strains to europium Eu(III) compounds
    (Biology, 2024) Alonso, Patricia; Blas, Javier; Amaro Torres, Francisco; De Francisco Martínez, Patricia; Martín González, Ana María; Gutiérrez Fernández, Juan Carlos
    Europium is one of the most reactive lanthanides and humans use it in many different applications, but we still know little about its potential toxicity and cellular response to its exposure. Two strains of the eukaryotic microorganism model Tetrahymena thermophila were adapted to high concentrations of two Eu(III) compounds (EuCl3 or Eu2O3) and compared to a control strain and cultures treated with both compounds. In this ciliate, EuCl3 is more toxic than Eu2O3. LC50 values show that this microorganism is more resistant to these Eu(III) compounds than other microorganisms. Oxidative stress originated mainly by Eu2O3 is minimized by overexpression of genes encoding important antioxidant enzymes. The overexpression of metallothionein genes under treatment with Eu(III) compounds supports the possibility that this lanthanide may interact with the -SH groups of the cysteine residues from metallothioneins and/or displace essential cations of these proteins during their homeostatic function. Both lipid metabolism (lipid droplets fusing with europium-containing vacuoles) and autophagy are involved in the cellular response to europium stress. Bioaccumulation, together with a possible biomineralization to europium phosphate, seems to be the main mechanism of Eu(III) detoxification in these cells.