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Effects of nutrient and light availability on production of bioactive anabaenopeptins and microviridin by the cyanobacterium Planktothrix agardhii

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Abstract

Cyanobacteria produce a large number of bioactive oligopeptides with yet unknown functions. Here the effect of environmental factors on the production of two anabaenopeptins and a microviridin by Planktothrix agardhii was investigated. The results were compared with previous findings on the production of a third family of oligopeptides, the highly toxic microcystins, to test the hypothesis that environmental factors affect the production of different types of cyanobacterial bioactive oligopeptides in a similar manner. Despite marked changes in culture conditions, variations in the amount of cell-bound anabaenopeptins and microviridin I per biomass unit did not exceed a factor of 5. High amounts of cell-bound anabaenopeptins and microviridin I per Planktothrix biovolume were associated with a high availability of nitrogen and phosphorus. The production of anabaenopeptins and microviridin continued as long as the Planktothrix cultures grew. In all cases the oligopeptide net production rate was linearly correlated to the growth rate of Planktothrix, identifying the growth activity as a major regulator of anabaenopeptin and microviridin production. The concentration of anabaenopeptins and microviridins in nature may therefore be estimated from the biomass concentration of their producers. These findings are similar to those previously reported for microcystins and thus support the idea that different types of bioactive cyanobacterial oligopeptides may share common regulation patterns. This may be seen as a hint to a mutual function of cyanobacterial oligopeptides, although further studies are needed to draw final conclusions on this issue.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to Nina Gjølme and Gunvor Åkesson (Norwegian Institute for Public Health) for their laboratory assistance and Prof. K. Sivonen (University of Helsinki, Finland) for providing the Planktothrix strain PT2. The work was supported by EU Grant QLK4-CT-2002-02634 and by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research.

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  1. Norwegian Institute for Water Research, P.O. Box 173, Kjelsås, 0411, Oslo, Norway

    Thomas Rohrlack

  2. Norwegian Institute of Public Health, P.O. Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403, Oslo, Norway

    Thomas Rohrlack & Hans Utkilen

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  1. Thomas Rohrlack
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  2. Hans Utkilen
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Correspondence to Thomas Rohrlack.

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Handling editor: J. Padisak

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Rohrlack, T., Utkilen, H. Effects of nutrient and light availability on production of bioactive anabaenopeptins and microviridin by the cyanobacterium Planktothrix agardhii . Hydrobiologia 583, 231–240 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0536-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0536-y

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