The ability of the Dunaliella viridis culture to adapt to toxic concentrations of copper sulphate and the possibility of inheriting such resistance in a number of cell generations was investigated. First, the primary (natural) resistance of D. viridis to the effects of copper sulfate concentrations from 0.0001 to 100 mg/L was checked, as well as the ability of the culture to adapt to repeated consecutive additions of this toxicant to the medium. A U-shaped dependence of both motility and the formation of cell aggregates on the dose and time of incubation was revealed. Multiple successive additions of copper sulfate (110 passages) resulted in the formation of the culture’s resistance even to lethal concentrations. It was shown that in the process of adaptation to copper ions, a specific metabolic pattern (epigenotype) is formed in D. viridis cells. It differs from the epigenotypes of the control culture and ensures the preservation of cell viability after their accumulation of large amounts (the rise makes 130–240 times) of copper ions. Such induced resistance to copper ions can be inherited in a number of cell generations due to the high structural and functional heterogeneity of the cell populations and hormesis effect.

Keywords: resistance, copper sulphate, epigenotype, metabolism, inheritance, microalgae

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