Metabolic Variation in the Toxigenic Cyanobacterium Microcystis Aeruginosa

Abstract

Cyanobacteria are notorious for their potential to produce toxins with human health effects, particularly the hepatotoxic microcystins (MCs), but cyanobacteria also produce other bioactive compounds. A wide variety of oligopeptides including aeruginosins, cyanopeptolins and cyanobactins may be as toxic as MCs. To investigate the production of these compounds, an UPLC QTOF-MS/MS method was developed to compare the metabolomic profiles of various strains of a common bloom-forming and toxigenic species, Microcystis aeruginosa, as well as those obtained from lakes with mixed cyanobacterial assemblages. Although many compounds could not be confirmed, MCs were rarely the dominant secondary metabolite in any sample. Since the biological role of MCs remains unknown, I tested the hypothesis that MCs provide protection against oxidative stress as induced through exposure to the herbicide atrazine and UV radiation in pure cultures of toxic vs non-toxic strains. Results were inconclusive and varied between strains suggesting other mechanisms exist to counter oxidative stress.