Abstract
Nonyl phenol (NP), an endocrine disruptor, is a phenol compound and highly toxic to water creatures. In this study, we have studied whether the phenol affects the growth and gametogenesis with the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
The growth rate was significantly suppressed by NP >10-6M, with Chlamydomonas cells (mt+): The cells which were incubated with NP at 10-5M were little proliferated during the first 20 day, but subsequently increased logarithmically. The NP concentration in the culture medium was found to be dropped to <10% immediately after addition of cells. These results suggest that Chlamydomonas cells adosorb a large amount of NP, resulting in decrease in the NP concentration in a medium where some cells can survive. When NP was added to the medium for the gametogenesis, the gametogenesis was stimulated: NP at 10-8M stimulated the gametogenesis by 40% compared with the control. We also report the changes in expression levels of gametogenesis-related genes.