ORIGINAL PAPER Glutathione peroxidase3 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae protects phospholipids during cadmium-induced oxidative stress Kannan Muthukumar • Selvaraj Rajakumar • Mary Nirmala Sarkar • Vasanthi Nachiappan Received: 22 October 2010 / Accepted: 4 January 2011 / Published online: 13 January 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract The present study was undertaken to determine the role of glutathione peroxidase3 (gpx3) in phospholipid protection in cells. Wild-type (WT) cells showed an overall increase in phospho- lipids upon 50 lM cadmium (Cd)-treatment, whereas an untreated gpx3D strain showed a drastic reduction in overall phospholipids which was further reduced with 50 lM Cd. In WT cells, Cd-exposure increased the short chain fatty acids and decreased the unsat- urated fatty acids and the magnitude was high in Cd- treated gpx3D cells. Purified recombinant gpx3p showed higher activity with phospholipid hydroper- oxides than shorter hydroperoxides. An increase in gpx activity was observed in Cd-treated WT cells and no such alteration was observed in gpx3D. WT cells treated with Cd showed an increase in MDA over untreated, while untreated gpx3D cells themselves showed a higher level of MDA which was further enhanced with Cd-treatment. Iron, zinc and calcium levels were significantly altered in WT and gpx3D cells during Cd-treatment. Keywords Glutathione peroxidase Á Phospholipids Á Fatty acids Á Antioxidants Á Cadmium Á Saccharomyces cerevisiae and oxidative stress Abbreviations Cd Cadmium CL Cardiolipin Gpx Glutathione peroxidase IPTG Isopropyl b-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside LPL Lysophospholipids MDA Malondialdehyde Ni 2? NTA nickel nitrilo acetic acid-agarose PC Phosphatidylcholine PE Phosphatidylethanolamine PHGpx Phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase PI Phosphatidylinositol PLOOH Phospholipid hydroperoxide PS Phosphatidylserine ROS Reactive oxygen species Introduction In cells phospholipids play diverse roles that are essential for growth and metabolism. The major phospholipids found in the cell membranes of Saccha- romyces cerevisiae include phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylinositol K. Muthukumar Á S. Rajakumar Á V. Nachiappan (&) Department of Biochemistry, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, Tamilnadu, India e-mail: vasanthibch@gmail.com M. N. Sarkar Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India 123 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (2011) 99:761–771 DOI 10.1007/s10482-011-9550-9