title: The molecular genetics of cyanobacterial toxicity as a basis for monitoring water quality and public health risk.
abstract: Toxic cyanobacteria pose a significant hazard to human health and the environment. The recent characterisation of cyanotoxin synthetase gene clusters has resulted in an explosion of molecular detection methods for these organisms and their toxins. Conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests targeting cyanotoxin biosynthesis genes provide a rapid and sensitive means for detecting potentially toxic populations of cyanobacteria in water supplies. The adaptation of these simple PCR tests into quantitative methods has additionally enabled the monitoring of dynamic bloom populations and the identification of particularly problematic species. More recently, DNA microarray technology has been applied to cyanobacterial diagnostics offering a high-throughput option for detecting and differentiating toxic genotypes in complex samples. Together, these molecular methods are proving increasingly important for monitoring water quality.
authors.affiliation: The School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Leanne A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Pearson
authors.forename: Brett A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Neilan
mesh_terms: D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity; D001709:Biotechnology; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D000087522:Cyanobacteria Toxins; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008387:Marine Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity; D052998:Microcystins / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity; D008967:Molecular Biology; D005810:Multigene Family; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011634:Public Health; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D000087522:Cyanobacteria Toxins; D008387:Marine Toxins; D052998:Microcystins