Assessment of different <i>mcy</i> genes for detecting the toxic to non-toxic <i>Microcystis</i> ratio in the field by multiplex qPCR -- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2018,36(4):1132-1144

	Cite this paper:
	ZUO Jun, CHEN Liting, SHAN Kun, HU Lili, SONG Lirong, GAN Nanqin. Assessment of different mcy genes for detecting the toxic to non-toxic Microcystis ratio in the field by multiplex qPCR[J]. Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 2018, 36(4): 1132-1144

Assessment of different mcy genes for detecting the toxic to non-toxic Microcystis ratio in the field by multiplex qPCR

ZUO Jun^1,2, CHEN Liting^1,2, SHAN Kun³, HU Lili¹, SONG Lirong¹, GAN Nanqin¹

1 State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China;
2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
3 Institute of Electronic Information Technology, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China

Abstract:

Harmful cyanobacterial blooms, especially Microcystis blooms, occur worldwide and draw widespread attention. The dynamics of microcystin-producing Microcystis and competition between microcystin-producing Microcystis and non-microcystin-producing Microcystis are key to predicting and treating Microcystis blooms. Multiplex qPCR is a useful tool to assess such issues. In this study, we developed multiplex qPCR methods with newly-designed probes and primers for the microcystin-synthesis related genes mcyA and mcyE. We used seven toxic Microcystis strains and four non-toxic Microcystis strains to compare the differences in the ratios of toxic and non-toxic Microcystis in mixed cultures, which were calculated using abundances of the genes mcyA, mcyB, mcyD, mcyE and phycocyanin (PC). We also compared traditional cell counting and multiplex qPCR. Hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis indicated that mcyD was the most suitable mcy gene for quantification in laboratory experiments. mcyB abundances were always higher; we suggest that the amount of toxic Microcystis measured using mcyB might overestimate the actual percentages.

Received: 2017-06-19 Revised:

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Articles by ZUO Jun

Articles by CHEN Liting

Articles by SHAN Kun

Articles by HU Lili

Articles by SONG Lirong

Articles by GAN Nanqin

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