ABSTRACT
The present paper deals with the insecticide endosulfan (5, 10 and 20 microg/ml)-induced changes in physiological and biochemical parameters related to photosynthesis and defense systems in paddy field cyanobacterium Plectonema boryanum grown under laboratory conditions. Growth and photosynthetic pigments, i.e., chlorophyll a, carotenoids and phycocyanin, were adversely affected by endosulfan treatment and the inhibition was found to be dose dependent. The toxic effect of endosulfan was more pronounced on phycocyanin; however, a considerable reduction in chlorophyll a and carotenoids was also noticed. 14C-fixation appeared to be more sensitive to insecticide than whole cell oxygen evolution. Spheroplasts treated with endosulfan exhibited a severe effect on PSII activity which was mainly due to blocking of the electron flow at the water oxidation side. In contrast to this, similar doses of endosulfan caused the least effect on PSI activity (DCPIP/ASC-->MV). Furthermore, endosulfan with increasing doses accelerated the formation of active oxygen species, i.e., O2- and H2O2, in cells progressively, whereby an enhanced peroxidation of lipid and leakage of cell membrane were noticed. As a consequence of active oxygen species (AOS) generation in endosulfan-treated cells, the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) was enhanced considerably. Besides the accelerated action of enzymatic defense systems, chemical antioxidant ascorbate showed a decreasing trend with the rising concentration of endosulfan (5, 10 and 20 microg/ml).
