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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Aquatic Microbiology
Volume 15 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1461119
This article is part of the Research Topic Occurrence of Harmful Algal Blooms and Marine Biotoxins View all 4 articles
The use of a benign fast-growing cyanobacterial species to control microcystin synthesis from Microcystis aeruginosa
Provisionally accepted
Hakyung Lee
1
Vincent Xu
1
Jinjin Diao
1
Runyu Zhao
1*
Moshan Chen
1*
Tae Seok Moon
1*
Haijun Liu
2
Kimberly M Parker
1*
Young-Shin Jun
1*
Yinjie Tang
1*- 1 Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, United States
- 2 Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Microcystis aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa), one of the most prevalent blue-green algae in aquatic environments, produces microcystin by causing harmful algal blooms (HAB). This study investigated the combined effects of nutrients and cyanobacterial subpopulation competition on synthesizing microcystin-LR. First, coculturing with a fast-growing cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973 (S. elongatus) reduced M. aeruginosa biomass and microcystin production at 30 o C. Under high nitrogen and low phosphorus conditions, S. elongatus utilization is mostly effective, with up to 94.7% and 92.4% limitation of M. aeruginosa growth and toxin synthesis, respectively. Second, this biological strategy became less effective at 23 o C, where S. elongatus grew slower. Third, photosynthesis inhibitor DCMU (3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea) hindered M. aeruginosa growth and microcystin production at a concentration as low as 0.1 mg/L. DCMU was also effective for controlling microcystin production in S. elongatus-M. aeruginosa cocultures. Based on experimental results, a multi-substrate, multispecies kinetic model was built to describe coculture growth and population interactions. The simulation improved our understanding of the biological control of microcystin production under complex environmental conditions.
Keywords: coculture, DCMU, harmful algal blooms, Microcystis aeruginosa, Synechococcus elongatus
Received: 08 Jul 2024; Accepted: 11 Nov 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Lee, Xu, Diao, Zhao, Chen, Moon, Liu, Parker, Jun and Tang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Runyu Zhao, Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, 63130, United States
Moshan Chen, Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, 63130, United States
Tae Seok Moon, Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, 63130, United States
Kimberly M Parker, Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, 63130, United States
Young-Shin Jun, Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, 63130, United States
Yinjie Tang, Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, 63130, United States
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