Microcystin mcyA and mcyE Gene Abundances Are Not Appropriate Indicators of Microcystin Concentrations in Lakes

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) are a primary source of water quality degradation in eutrophic lakes. The occurrence of cyanoHABs is ubiquitous and expected to increase with current climate and land use change scenarios. However, it is currently unknown what environmental parameters...

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Main Authors:	Beversdorf, Lucas J., Chaston, Sheena D., Miller, Todd R., McMahon, Katherine D.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4422731/

id	pubmed-4422731
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-44227312015-05-12 Microcystin mcyA and mcyE Gene Abundances Are Not Appropriate Indicators of Microcystin Concentrations in Lakes Beversdorf, Lucas J. Chaston, Sheena D. Miller, Todd R. McMahon, Katherine D. Research Article Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) are a primary source of water quality degradation in eutrophic lakes. The occurrence of cyanoHABs is ubiquitous and expected to increase with current climate and land use change scenarios. However, it is currently unknown what environmental parameters are important for indicating the presence of cyanoHAB toxins making them difficult to predict or even monitor on time-scales relevant to protecting public health. Using qPCR, we aimed to quantify genes within the microcystin operon (mcy) to determine which cyanobacterial taxa, and what percentage of the total cyanobacterial community, were responsible for microcystin production in four eutrophic lakes. We targeted Microcystis-16S, mcyA, and Microcystis, Planktothrix, and Anabaena-specific mcyE genes. We also measured microcystins and several biological, chemical, and physical parameters—such as temperature, lake stability, nutrients, pigments and cyanobacterial community composition (CCC)—to search for possible correlations to gene copy abundance and MC production. All four lakes contained Microcystis-mcyE genes and high percentages of toxic Microcystis, suggesting Microcystis was the dominant microcystin producer. However, all genes were highly variable temporally, and in few cases, correlated with increased temperature and nutrients as the summer progressed. Interestingly, toxin gene abundances (and biomass indicators) were anti-correlated with microcystin in all lakes except the largest lake, Lake Mendota. Similarly, gene abundance and microcystins differentially correlated to CCC in all lakes. Thus, we conclude that the presence of microcystin genes are not a useful tool for eliciting an ecological role for toxins in the environment, nor are microcystin genes (e.g. DNA) a good indicator of toxins in the environment. Public Library of Science 2015-05-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4422731/ /pubmed/25945933 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125353 Text en © 2015 Beversdorf et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Beversdorf, Lucas J. Chaston, Sheena D. Miller, Todd R. McMahon, Katherine D.
spellingShingle	Beversdorf, Lucas J. Chaston, Sheena D. Miller, Todd R. McMahon, Katherine D. Microcystin mcyA and mcyE Gene Abundances Are Not Appropriate Indicators of Microcystin Concentrations in Lakes
author_facet	Beversdorf, Lucas J. Chaston, Sheena D. Miller, Todd R. McMahon, Katherine D.
author_sort	Beversdorf, Lucas J.
title	Microcystin mcyA and mcyE Gene Abundances Are Not Appropriate Indicators of Microcystin Concentrations in Lakes
title_short	Microcystin mcyA and mcyE Gene Abundances Are Not Appropriate Indicators of Microcystin Concentrations in Lakes
title_full	Microcystin mcyA and mcyE Gene Abundances Are Not Appropriate Indicators of Microcystin Concentrations in Lakes
title_fullStr	Microcystin mcyA and mcyE Gene Abundances Are Not Appropriate Indicators of Microcystin Concentrations in Lakes
title_full_unstemmed	Microcystin mcyA and mcyE Gene Abundances Are Not Appropriate Indicators of Microcystin Concentrations in Lakes
title_sort	microcystin mcya and mcye gene abundances are not appropriate indicators of microcystin concentrations in lakes
description	Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) are a primary source of water quality degradation in eutrophic lakes. The occurrence of cyanoHABs is ubiquitous and expected to increase with current climate and land use change scenarios. However, it is currently unknown what environmental parameters are important for indicating the presence of cyanoHAB toxins making them difficult to predict or even monitor on time-scales relevant to protecting public health. Using qPCR, we aimed to quantify genes within the microcystin operon (mcy) to determine which cyanobacterial taxa, and what percentage of the total cyanobacterial community, were responsible for microcystin production in four eutrophic lakes. We targeted Microcystis-16S, mcyA, and Microcystis, Planktothrix, and Anabaena-specific mcyE genes. We also measured microcystins and several biological, chemical, and physical parameters—such as temperature, lake stability, nutrients, pigments and cyanobacterial community composition (CCC)—to search for possible correlations to gene copy abundance and MC production. All four lakes contained Microcystis-mcyE genes and high percentages of toxic Microcystis, suggesting Microcystis was the dominant microcystin producer. However, all genes were highly variable temporally, and in few cases, correlated with increased temperature and nutrients as the summer progressed. Interestingly, toxin gene abundances (and biomass indicators) were anti-correlated with microcystin in all lakes except the largest lake, Lake Mendota. Similarly, gene abundance and microcystins differentially correlated to CCC in all lakes. Thus, we conclude that the presence of microcystin genes are not a useful tool for eliciting an ecological role for toxins in the environment, nor are microcystin genes (e.g. DNA) a good indicator of toxins in the environment.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4422731/
_version_	1613220347908194304

Microcystin mcyA and mcyE Gene Abundances Are Not Appropriate Indicators of Microcystin Concentrations in Lakes

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