Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications
Campus Units
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
3-19-2020
Journal or Book Title
Water Research
First Page
115730
Research Focus Area(s)
Land and Water Resources Engineering
DOI
10.1016/j.watres.2020.115730
Abstract
Microcystins, a group of cyanotoxins produced by cyanobacterial strains, have become a significant microbial hazard to human and animal health due to increases in the frequency and intensity of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs). Many studies have explored the correlation between microcystin concentrations and abundances of toxin-producing genes (e.g., mcyA genes) measured using quantitative PCR, and discrepancies between toxin concentrations and gene abundances are often observed. In this study, the results show that these discrepancies are at least partially due to primer sets that do not capture the phylogenetic diversity of naturally present toxin-producers. We designed three novel primer gene probes based on known mcyA genes to improve the detection and quantification of these genes in environmental samples. These primers were shown to improve the identification of mcyA genes compared to previously published primers in freshwater metagenomes, cyanobacterial isolates, and lake water samples. Unlike previously published primers, our primer sets could selectively amplify and resolve Microcystis, Anabaena, and Planktothrix mcyA genes. In lake water samples, abundance estimations of mcyA genes were found to correlate strongly with microcystin concentrations. Based on our results, these primers offer significant improvements over previously published probes to accurately identify and quantify mcyA genes in the environment. There is an increasing need to develop models based on microbial information and environmental factors to predict CyanoHABs, and improved primers will play an important role in aiding monitoring efforts to collect reliable and consistent data on toxicity risks.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Copyright Owner
Elsevier Ltd.
Copyright Date
2020
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Lee, Jaejin; Choi, Jinlyung; Fatka, Micah; Swanner, Elizabeth D.; Ikuma, Kaoru; Liang, Xuewei; Leung, Tania; and Howe, Adina, "Improved detection of mcyA genes and their phylogenetic origins in harmful algal blooms" (2020). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications. 1120.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/1120
Included in
Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Commons, Water Resource Management Commons
Comments
This is a manuscript of an article published as Lee, Jaejin, Jinlyung Choi, Micah Fatka, Elizabeth Swanner, Kaoru Ikuma, Xuewei Liang, Tania Leung, and Adina Howe. "Improved detection of mcyA genes and their phylogenetic origins in harmful algal blooms." Water Research (2020): 115730. DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.115730. Posted with permission.