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Microbial interactions with the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa and their dependence on temperature

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Abstract

Associated heterotrophic bacteria alter the microenvironment of cyanobacteria and potentially influence cyanobacterial development. Therefore, we studied interactions of the unicellular freshwater cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa with heterotrophic bacteria. The associated bacterial community was greatly driven by temperature as seen by DNA fingerprinting. However, the associated microbes also closely interacted with the cyanobacteria indicating changing ecological consequence of the associated bacterial community with temperature. Whereas concentration of dissolved organic carbon in cyanobacterial cultures changed in a temperature-dependent manner, its quality greatly varied under the same environmental conditions, but with different associated bacterial communities. Furthermore, temperature affected quantity and quality of cell-bound microcystins, whereby interactions between M. aeruginosa and their associated community often masked this temperature effect. Both macro- and microenvironment of active cyanobacterial strains were characterized by high pH and oxygen values creating a unique habitat that potentially affects microbial diversity and function. For example, archaea including ‘anaerobic’ methanogens contributed to the associated microbial community. This implies so far uncharacterized interactions between Microcystis aeruginosa and its associated prokaryotic community, which has unknown ecological consequences in a climatically changing world.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Solvig Pinnow for technical assistance and Andreas Ballot and Manfred Henning for providing us a variety of M. aeruginosa strains. We further acknowledge Helle Ploug for scientific input and technical help with the microelectrode measurements. We thank three anonymous reviewers for their very helpful suggestions and comments. This study was funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG, GR 1540/11-1,2).

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  1. Claudia Dziallas

    Present address: Marine Biological Section, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Strandpromenaden 5, 3000, Helsingør, Denmark

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Limnology of Stratified Lakes, Leibniz-Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Alte Fischerhuette 2, 16775, Stechlin, Germany

    Claudia Dziallas & Hans-Peter Grossart

  2. Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Potsdam University, Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469, Potsdam, Germany

    Hans-Peter Grossart

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  1. Claudia Dziallas
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Correspondence to Hans-Peter Grossart.

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Communicated by U. Sommer.

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Dziallas, C., Grossart, HP. Microbial interactions with the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa and their dependence on temperature. Mar Biol 159, 2389–2398 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-1927-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-1927-4

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