Unraveling the mechanism responsible for the contrasting tolerance of Synechocystis and Synechococcus to Cr(VI): Enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants

•Cr(VI) accumulation generates higher ROS in Synechocystis than in Synechococcus.•Synechococcus exhibits better photosynthetic activity in response to Cr(VI).•Synechococcus has higher enzymatic/non-enzymatic antioxidants than Synechocystis.•Synechococcus shows better tolerance to other oxidative stresses than Synechocystis.•Differential detoxification of ROS is responsible for the contrasting tolerance to Cr(VI)

Two unicellular cyanobacteria, Synechocystis and Synechococcus, showed contrasting tolerance to Cr(VI); with Synechococcus being 12-fold more tolerant than Synechocystis to potassium dichromate. The mechanism responsible for this differential sensitivity to Cr(VI) was explored in this study. Total content of photosynthetic pigments as well as photosynthetic activity decreased at lower concentration of Cr(VI) in Synechocystis as compared to Synechococcus. Experiments with 51Cr showed Cr to accumulate intracellularly in both the cyanobacteria. At lower concentrations, Cr(VI) caused excessive ROS generation in Synechocystis as compared to that observed in Synechococcus. Intrinsic levels of enzymatic antioxidants, i.e., superoxide dismutase, catalase and 2-Cys-peroxiredoxin were considerably higher in Synechococcus than Synechocystis. Content of total thiols (both protein as well as non-protein) and reduced glutathione (GSH) was also higher in Synechococcus as compared to Synechocystis. This correlated well with higher content of carbonylated proteins observed in Synechocystis than Synechococcus. Additionally, in contrast to Synechocystis, Synechococcus exhibited better tolerance to other oxidative stresses like high intensity light and H2O2. The data indicate that the disparity in the ability to detoxify ROS could be the primary mechanism responsible for the differential tolerance of these cyanobacteria to Cr(VI).