Cadmium Sulfide Quantum Dots Adversely Affect Gametogenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

In the last decades, nanotechnology-based tools have attracted attention in the scientific community, due to their potential applications in different areas from medicine to engineering, but several toxicological effects mediated by these advanced materials have been shown on the environment and human health. At present, the effects of engineered nanomaterials on gametogenesis have not yet been well understood. In the present study, we addressed this issue using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model eukaryote to evaluate the effects of cadmium sulfide quantum dots (CdS QDs) on sporulation, a process equivalent to gametogenesis in higher organisms. We have observed that CdS QDs cause a strong inhibition of spore development with the formation of aberrant, multinucleated cells. In line with these observations, treatment with CdS QDs down-regulates genes encoding crucial regulators of sporulation process, in particular, the transcription factor Ndt80 that coordinates different genes involved in progression through the meiosis and spore morphogenesis. Down-regulation of NDT80 mediated by CdS QDs causes a block of the meiotic cell cycle and a return to mitosis, leading to the formation of aberrant, multinucleated cells. These results indicate that CdS QDs inhibit gametogenesis in an irreversible manner, with adverse effects on cell-cycle progression.

Cadmium Sulfide Quantum Dots, Mitochondrial Function and Environmental Stress: A Mechanistic Reconstruction through In Vivo Cellular Approaches in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

“…Their utilization with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy can reinforce enzyme kinetics. The results obtained on mitochondrial respiration and energy production [ 5 , 7 , 16 , 42 , 47 ], together with the data on CdS QDs response, are important to consider since the functional dysregulations observed may have long range effects, such as modification of mitochondrial DNA replication [ 27 ], deregulation of mitochondrial proteins [ 26 ] and gametogenesis [ 17 ], suggesting how mitochondria in S. cerevisiae can be considered as the center of epigenetic effects [ 51 , 52 ] during response to environmental stress.…”

“…The information gained from studying S. cerevisiae ’s response to QDs at the physiological and molecular levels highlighted the importance of the mitochondrion as one of the main targets involved in the environmental stress response [ 16 ]. Quantum dots, because of their physico-chemical properties mainly enter living cells by endocytosis [ 17 ], thus determining specific cellular and genetic responses [ 5 , 7 , 16 ].…”

Comparison of Toxicity and Cellular Uptake of CdSe/ZnS and Carbon Quantum Dots for Molecular Tracking Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a Fungal Model

“…The following supporting information can be downloaded at: , Table S1: A summary table about the findings of articles dealing with Cd-containing quantum dots or carbon quantum dots and yeast; Figure S1: Fluorescence spectrum of CdSe/ZnS QDs; Figure S2: The Fourier transform image of the crystalline region characterizing the reciprocal lattice of CdSe/ZnS QDs. References [ 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 ] are cited in the Supplementary Materials.…”