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Quantitative assessment of toxic and nontoxic Microcystis colonies in natural environments using fluorescence in situ hybridization and flow cytometry

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Abstract

Toxic cyanobacterial blooms constitute a threat to human safety because Microcystis sp. releases microcystins during growth, and particularly during cell death. Therefore, analysis of toxic and nontoxic Microcystis in natural communities is required in order to assess and predict bloom dynamics and toxin production by these organisms. In this study, an analysis combining fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with flow cytometry (FCM) was used to discriminate between toxic and nontoxic Microcystis and also to quantify the percentage of toxic Microcystis present in blooms. The results demonstrate that the combination of FISH and flow cytometry is a useful approach for studying the ecology of Microcystis toxin production and for providing an early warning for toxic Microcystis blooms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China

    NanQin Gan, Qun Huang, LingLing Zheng & LiRong Song

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  1. NanQin Gan
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  2. Qun Huang
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  3. LingLing Zheng
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  4. LiRong Song
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Correspondence to LiRong Song.

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Gan, N., Huang, Q., Zheng, L. et al. Quantitative assessment of toxic and nontoxic Microcystis colonies in natural environments using fluorescence in situ hybridization and flow cytometry. Sci. China Life Sci. 53, 973–980 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-010-4038-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-010-4038-9

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