Isolation and genetic analysis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strains resistant to cadmium.

In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, cadmium induces reduction of growth, reduction of chlorophyll content, and lethality. The toxicity was higher in a cell wall-deficient strain than in the wild type. By growing the cells on agar medium containing cadmium at concentrations inducing high lethality, stable resistant clones were isolated. The resistance was due to a nuclear mutation (cadAR) which probably preexisted in the wild-type cell population, as suggested by the fluctuation test. A double mutant (cadAR cadBR) was selected on media containing higher concentrations of cadmium. The cadBR mutation, which is unlinked to cadAR, determines a resistance intermediate between the CadAR mutant and the wild-type strain. Both cadAR and cadBR mutations are partially dominant.