The Eco-Physiological Role of Microcystis aeruginosa in a Changing World

Temperature and salinity affect growth and toxin content of cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa (PCC 7806) in estuarine environments

Microcystis aeruginosa is considered a harmful cyanobacterial species due to its ability to produce microcystins (MCs) and its increasing prevalence in estuarine environments. While previous studies have demonstrated the effects of individual environmental factors on either growth or toxin content of M. aeruginosa, potential interactive effects and resulting changes in its toxicity remain unclear. In this study, we first conducted an orthogonally designed growth experiment to assess potential effects of changes in temperature, salinity, pH, and nutrient conditions. Subsequently, we performed a full-factorial growth experiment focusing on temperature and salinity as key variables. Intracellular and extracellular MCs content, as well as phycocyanin levels, were measured during both exponential and stationary growth phases. Toxicity was further evaluated based on mortality and swimming behavior of the epibenthic copepod Nitokra spinipes and the planktonic copepod Acartia tonsa. Results showed that both growth rate and MCs content significantly increased with temperature (from 15 to 28 °C) but decreased with higher salinity (from 8 to 16 ppt). Moreover, cell density was significantly correlated with both intracellular and extracellular MCs contents. A significant interaction between temperature and salinity was observed. No correlation was found between intracellular MCs and phycocyanin contents. Finally, exposure to M. aeruginosa resulted in decreased swimming speed, increased inactivity, and higher mortality in A. tonsa, compared to the non-toxic Rhodomonas salina. Our study highlights the consequences of temperature and salinity on M. aeruginosa growth and toxin production, offering increased insights into the potential ecotoxicological risks of future blooms.

How warming impacts the photosynthetic physiology of the bloom-forming cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa, under UV exposure

Microcystis aeruginosa is a common cyanobacterium leading to algal blooms. Coupled effects of temperature increase and UV radiation increase will affect its photosynthesis performance, which may in turn will affect its proliferation and distribution, and change the environmental health of the water body. In this study, M. aeruginosa FACHB 469 was incubated at 25 °C and 30 °C and subjected to photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and UV radiation (PAR + UVR) to monitor the relevant physiological responses. Exposure to both PAR and PAR + UVR resulted in a decline in PSII maximum quantum yield of M. aeruginosa, with UVR having more significant inhibitory effect. Meanwhile, UVR significantly increased the PSII photoinactivation rate constant (Kpi) and decreased the PSII repair rate constant (Krec), whereas the warming did not have a significant effect on it, and no significant interaction effect between warming and UVR was observed. Further analysis of the strategies of algal cells to cope with UVR at different temperatures revealed that at 25 °C, algal cells mainly relied on the repair cycle of PSII, and reduced the content of phycocyanin to lower light energy capture, and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities to alleviate the damage of UVR; whereas under warming conditions, algal cells, while relying on PSII repair, mainly photoprotect by strengthening the NPQ mechanism, thus improving their tolerance to UVR. These findings suggest that the differential strategies employed by M. aeruginosa to cope with UVR under varying temperature conditions may influence the resilience of cyanobacterial blooms to environmental stressors in the future.

Optimization and validation of a protein phosphatase inhibition assay for accessible microcystin detection

The presence of cyanobacterial toxins in freshwater constitutes an increasing public health concern, especially affecting developing countries where the high cost of available methods makes monitoring programs difficult. The phosphatase inhibition assay (PPIA) is a sensitive method with low instrument requirements that allows the quantification of the most frequent cyanotoxins, microcystins (MCs). In this work, we implemented a PPIA, starting from Protein Phosphatase 1 (PP1) expression up to the validation with samples of algal blooms from Argentina. To do this, we optimized the expression and lyophilization of PP1, and the assay conditions. Also, we included robustness and possible interference analysis. We evaluated the most widely used cyanobacterial lysis methods and determined that heating for 15 min at 95 °C is simple and adequate for this assay. Then, we performed MC spikes recovery assays on water samples from three dams from Argentina, resulting in a recovery ranging from 77 to 115%. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.4 μg/L and the linear range is 0.4 μg/L - 5 μg/L. Finally, we evaluated 65 environmental samples where MCs was measured by ELISA test containing from 0 μg/L to 625 μg/L. The PPIA showed excellent correlation (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.967), no false negative and no false positives above the 1 μg/L WHO guideline (0.11 false positive rate). In conclusion, we optimized and validated a PPIA to be an effective and accessible alternative to available commercial tests.