Precision early detection of invasive and toxic cyanobacteria: A case study of Raphidiopsis raciborskii

Fengjiao Tan; Peng Xiao; Jun R Yang; Huihuang Chen; Lei Jin; Yigang Yang; Tsair-Fuh Lin; Anusuya Willis; Jun Yang

doi:10.1016/j.hal.2021.102125

Precision early detection of invasive and toxic cyanobacteria: A case study of Raphidiopsis raciborskii

Harmful Algae. 2021 Dec:110:102125. doi: 10.1016/j.hal.2021.102125. Epub 2021 Nov 2.

Authors

Fengjiao Tan¹, Peng Xiao², Jun R Yang³, Huihuang Chen¹, Lei Jin¹, Yigang Yang¹, Tsair-Fuh Lin⁴, Anusuya Willis⁵, Jun Yang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Aquatic EcoHealth Group, Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² Aquatic EcoHealth Group, Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
³ Aquatic EcoHealth Group, Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Engineering Research Center of Ecology and Agricultural Use of Wetland (Ministry of Education), College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434025, China.
⁴ Department of Environmental Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
⁵ Australian National Algae Culture Collection, CSIRO, Hobart 7000, Tasmania, Australia.
⁶ Aquatic EcoHealth Group, Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: jyang@iue.ac.cn.

PMID: 34887005
DOI: 10.1016/j.hal.2021.102125

Abstract

Blooms of the toxic cyanobacterium, Raphidiopsis raciborskii (basionym Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii), are becoming a major environmental issue in freshwater ecosystems globally. Our precision prevention and early detection of R. raciborskii blooms rely upon the accuracy and speed of the monitoring method. A duplex digital PCR (dPCR) monitoring approach was developed and validated to detect the abundance and toxin-producing potential of R. raciborskii simultaneously in both laboratory spiked and environmental samples. Results of dPCR were strongly correlated with traditional real time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and microscopy for both laboratory and environmental samples. However, discrepancies between methods were observed when measuring R. raciborskii at low abundance (1 - 10⁵ cells L ^- ¹), with dPCR showing a higher precision compared to qPCR at low cell concentration. Furthermore, the dPCR assay had the highest detection rate for over two hundred environmental samples especially under low abundance conditions, followed by microscopy and qPCR. dPCR assay had the advantages of simple operation, time-saving, high sensitivity and excellent reproducibility. Therefore, dPCR would be a fast and precise monitoring method for the early warning of toxic bloom-forming cyanobacterial species and assessment of water quality risks, which can improve prediction and prevention of the impacts of harmful cyanobacterial bloom events in inland waters.

Keywords: Cylindrospermopsin; Digital PCR; Microscopy; Raphidiopsis raciborskii; real-time qPCR.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cyanobacteria*
Cylindrospermopsis*
Ecosystem
Reproducibility of Results

Supplementary concepts

Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii