US EPA

7423664 

Journal Article 

Benthic cyanobacteria: A source of cylindrospermopsin and microcystin in Australian drinking water reservoirs 

Gaget, V; Humpage, AR; Huang, Q; Monis, P; Brookes, JD; , 

2017 

1 

Water Research
ISSN: 0043-1354
EISSN: 1879-2448 

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD 

OXFORD 

124 

454-464 

English 

28787682 

10.1016/j.watres.2017.07.073 

WOS:000412251500046 

https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0043135417306462
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Cyanobacteria represent a health hazard worldwide due to their production of a range of highly potent toxins in diverse aquatic environments. While planktonic species have been the subject of many investigations in terms of risk assessment, little is known about benthic forms and their impact on water quality or human and animal health. This study aimed to purify isolates from environmental benthic biofilms sampled from three different drinking water reservoirs and to assess their toxin production by using the following methods: Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and quantitative PCR (qPCR). Microscopic observation of the isolates allowed the identification of various filamentous cyanobacterial genera: Anabaena (benthic form), Calothrix and Nostoc from the Nostocales and Geitlerinema, Leptolyngbya, Limnothrix, Lyngbya, Oxynema, Phormidium and Pseudanabaena representing non-heterocystous filamentous cyanobacteria. The Phormidium ambiguum strain AWQC-PHO021 was found to produce 739 ng/mg of dry weight (d/w) of cylindrospermopsin and 107 ng/mg (d/w) of deoxy-cylindrospermopsin. The Nostoc linckia strain AWQC-NOS001 produced 400 ng/mg (d/w) of a microcystin analogue. This is the first report of hepatotoxin production by benthic cyanobacteria in temperate Australian drinking water reservoirs. These findings indicate that water quality monitoring programs need to consider benthic cyanobacteria as a potential source of toxins. 

Benthic cyanobacteria; Cylindrospermopsin; Drinking water; Microcystin; Health hazards; Health risks; High performance liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Polymerase chain reaction; Potable water; Risk assessment; Toxic materials; Veterinary medicine; Water quality; Aquatic environments; Benthic cyanobacteria; Cylindrospermopsin; Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; Microcystins; Microscopic observations; Tandem mass spectrometry; Water quality monitoring; Reservoirs (water); cylindrospermopsin; drinking water; microcystin; bacterial toxin; cylindrospermopsin; microcystin; uracil; aquatic environment; benthos; biofilm; cyanobacterium; drinking water; environmental monitoring; immunoassay; liquid chromatography; mass spectrometry; polymerase chain reaction; reservoir; risk assessment; toxin; water quality; aquatic environment; Article; bacterial strain; benthos; cyanobacterium; Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii; DNA denaturation; DNA extraction; DNA isolation; dry weight; enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; Geitlerinema; high performance liquid chromatography; Leptolyngbya; Limnothrix; liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; Lyngbya; morphology; nonhuman; Nostoc; Nostocales; Oxynema; Phormidium; phylogeny; plankton; polymerase chain reaction; priority journal; Pseudanabaena; toxin analysis; waste water management; water quality; water supply; analogs and derivatives; animal; Australia; chemistry; cyanobacterium; human; tandem mass spectrometry; Australia; Anabaena; Animalia; Calothrix; Cyanobacteria; Geitlerinema; Leptolyngbya; Limnothrix; Lyngbya; Nostoc; Nostoc linckia; Nostocales; Phormidium; Phormidium ambiguum; Pseudanabaena; Animals; Australia; Bacterial Toxins; Cyanobacteria; Drinking Water; Humans; Microcystins; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Uracil