Cylindrospermopsin (CYN) is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by filamentous cyanobacteria which could work as an allelopathic substance, although its ecological role in cyanobacterial-algal assemblages is mostly unclear. The competition between the CYN-producing cyanobacterium Chrysosporum (Aphanizomenon) ovalisporum, and the benthic green alga Chlorococcum sp. was investigated in mixed cultures, and the effects of CYN-containing cyanobacterial crude extract on Chlorococcum sp. were tested by treatments with crude extracts containing total cell debris, and with cell debris free crude extracts, modelling the collapse of a cyanobacterial water bloom. The growth inhibition of Chlorococcum sp. increased with the increasing ratio of the cyanobacterium in mixed cultures (inhibition ranged from 26% to 87% compared to control). Interestingly, inhibition of the cyanobacterium growth also occurred in mixed cultures, and it was more pronounced than it was expected. The inhibitory effects of cyanobacterial crude extracts on Chlorococcum cultures were concentration-dependent. The presence of C. ovalisporum in mixed cultures did not cause significant differences in nutrient content compared to Chlorococcum control culture, so the growth inhibition of the green alga could be linked to the presence of CYN and/or other bioactive compounds.
Keywords: allelopathy; co-culturing; cyanobacterium; eukaryotic alga; interaction; toxicity.