Cadmium is one of the most common heavy metals in contaminated aquatic environments and one of the most toxic contaminants for phytoplankton. Nevertheless, there are not enough studies focused on the effect of this metal in algae. Through a proteomic approach, this work shows how Cd can alter the growth, cell morphology and metabolism of the microalga Chlorella sorokiniana. Using the sequential window acquisition of all theoretical fragment ion spectra mass spectrometry (SWATH-MS), we concluded that exposure of Chlorella sorokiniana to 250 μM Cd²⁺ for 40 h caused downregulation of different metabolic pathways, such as photosynthesis, oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis, TCA cycle and ribosomal proteins biosynthesis. However, photorespiration, antioxidant enzymes, gluconeogenesis, starch catabolism, and biosynthesis of glutamate, cysteine, glycine and serine were upregulated, under the same conditions. Finally, exposure to Cd also led to changes in the metabolism of carotenoids and lipids. In addition, the high tolerance of Chlorella sorokiniana to Cd points to this microalga as a potential microorganism to be used in bioremediation processes.

镉是受污染的水生环境中最常见的重金属之一，也是浮游植物毒性最强的污染物之一。然而，没有足够的研究关注这种金属在藻类中的作用。通过蛋白质组学方法，这项工作表明了镉如何改变微藻小球藻小球藻的生长，细胞形态和代谢。使用顺序窗口获取所有理论片段离子谱质谱（SWATH-MS）的，我们的结论的暴露小球藻sorokiniana至250μM镉²⁺持续40小时导致不同代谢途径的下调，例如光合作用，氧化磷酸化，糖酵解，TCA循环和核糖体蛋白的生物合成。然而，在相同条件下，光呼吸，抗氧化酶，糖异生，淀粉分解代谢以及谷氨酸，半胱氨酸，甘氨酸和丝氨酸的生物合成被上调。最后，接触Cd还导致类胡萝卜素和脂质代谢的变化。此外，索氏小球藻对Cd的高耐受性表明该微藻是在生物修复过程中使用的潜在微生物。