Copper sulphate and DCMU-herbicide treatments increase asymmetry between sister cells in the toxic cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa: implications for detecting environmental stress.

Works correlating fluctuating asymmetry with environmental stress or genetic damages have been largely reported in multicellular organisms but not in single-celled ones. We hypothesize that asymmetry analysis could also be applied to single-celled organisms, because the asymmetry between two sister cells originated from a cellular division event (same genotype in similar environment) must tend to zero in the absence of environmental or genetic perturbations. Laboratory experiments with copper sulphate and DCMU-herbicide treatments as well as experiments in a water reservoir after treatment with copper sulphate algaecide show that environmental stress increases asymmetry between sister cells of Microcystis aeruginosa (Cyanobacteria). Even low Cu(2+) or DCMU doses, which were unable to reduce growth rate, considerably enlarge asymmetry with respect to untreated controls. Asymmetry between sister cells of cyanobacteria seems to be a reliable indicator of environmental perturbation. Analysis of asymmetry in single-celled organisms could become as important as fluctuating asymmetry of multicellular organisms is today.