title: Diversity of Microcystis aeruginosa isolates (Chroococcales, Cyanobacteria) from East-African water bodies.
abstract: With exception of South Africa, very little is known about the presence and abundance of toxic cyanobacteria and cyanobacterial blooms on the African continent. The close proximity between society and nature, and the use of the sparse water resources as drinking water in large parts of Africa, lead to the recognition that more knowledge on toxic cyanobacterial blooms is of major importance. The bloom forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa is known to produce cyclic heptatoxins (microcystins) which can be toxic to humans. In this study the morphological, genetic, and chemical characters of 24 strains of M. aeruginosa from several water bodies in Kenya and Uganda, some of them used as drinking water sources, were examined. The M. aeruginosa strains possessed different levels of diversity depending on characterisation method. Four morphotypes were identified based on the traditional morphological approach, 10 genotypes by DNA sequence comparison of the PC-IGS and ITS1 rDNA regions, and 10 chemotypes based on MALDI-TOF-MS oligopeptide analysis. Only 4 of the 24 isolated strains from East Africa were found to produce microcystins, while oligopeptides belonging to the aeruginosin and cyanopeptolin class were detected in most strains.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Gaustadalléen 21, 0349 Oslo, Norway. sigrid.haande@niva.no
authors.forename: Sigrid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haande
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ballot
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rohrlack
authors.forename: Jutta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fastner
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wiedner
authors.forename: Bente
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Edvardsen
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000382:microbiology*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D007630:Kenya; D052998:Microcystins / Q000032:analysis; D046931:Microcystis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000032:analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014454:Uganda
chemical_list: D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D052998:Microcystins; D009842:Oligopeptides