Specific quantification of Scenedesmus obliquus and Chlorella vulgaris in mixed-species algal biofilms

Samantha L Cheung; D Grant Allen; Steven M Short

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122251

Specific quantification of Scenedesmus obliquus and Chlorella vulgaris in mixed-species algal biofilms

Bioresour Technol. 2020 Jan:295:122251. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122251. Epub 2019 Oct 9.

Authors

Samantha L Cheung¹, D Grant Allen¹, Steven M Short²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto, 200 College St, Toronto M5S 3E5, Ontario, Canada.
² Department of Biology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road North, Mississauga L5L 1C6, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: steven.short@utoronto.ca.

PMID: 31630002
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122251

Abstract

Two TaqMan® qPCR assays were developed to specifically quantify the absolute abundance of Scenedesmus obliquus and Chlorella vulgaris in mixed-species algal biofilms by targeting the psbA gene. Standard curves were developed with amplification efficiencies of 92.4% and 96.6% for S. obliquus and C. vulgaris, respectively, and an R² value of 0.99 for both. Calibration curves for estimating absolute cell abundances resulted in slopes of 0.98 and 1.11 for C. vulgaris and S. obliquus, respectively, and an R² value of 0.95 for both. The assays were applied to cultivated mixed-species biofilms and approximately 10⁷ cells of each algal species were quantified when 10⁷ cells were added into biofilms. The developed qPCR assays were concluded to be specific and accurate for the quantification of S. obliquus and C. vulgaris in mixed-species biofilms. This will contribute to the control and optimization of algal cultivation systems for the production of algal biofuels and bioproducts.

Keywords: Algal biofilm; Community characterization; Microalgae; Species quantification; TaqMan qPCR.

MeSH terms

Biofilms
Biofuels
Biomass
Chlorella vulgaris*
Chlorophyceae
Microalgae*
Scenedesmus*

Substances

Biofuels