DNA profiling of complex bacterial populations: toxic cyanobacterial blooms

• Type: Another Publication in an International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2009

Authors

Martin Saker (Author) Other; Cristiana Moreira (Author) Other; Joana Martins (Author) Other; Brett Neilan (Author) Other; Vitor Manuel Vasconcelos (Author) FCUP

Journal

Title: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Vol. 85

Pages: 237-252

ISSN: 0175-7598

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 14 Citations

Scopus - 16 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Natural sciences > Biological sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-003-EFY

DOI: 10.1007/s00253-009-2180-8

Abstract (EN): Cyanobacteria are prokaryotic photosynthetic living organisms that inhabit our planet for over three billion years. With a worldwide distribution, they can be found in all types of environments: fresh, brackish and saltwater as well as terrestrial. Though beneficial in the development of life on earth, they also constitute a serious risk to our ecosystems since they can biologically produce harmful secondary metabolites named cyanotoxins. When studying cyanobacteria and their cyanotoxins, several methodologies have been applied with an increasing relevance to molecular methods. Therefore, the aim of this review is to describe alternative molecular methods that can be used as alternative methods for the identification of cyanobacteria. More traditional chemotaxonomic methods are discussed briefly as are the standard and somewhat dated techniques for assessing genome content for taxonomic classification schemes. The use of DNA amplification technology has been applied to the systematics and phylogeny of many bacterial groups, and the optimisation of methods for rapid identification and classification of cyanobacteria are presented. Together with novel methods developed for these photosynthetic microorganisms, the generated DNA profiles have been utilised to study cyanobacterial bloom population diversity and prediction of strain toxigenicity. Finally, the genotypes found were applied to a variety of phylogenetic analyses; trees were reconstructed and compared to the current morphological system of classification. The ecology and diversity of the cyanobacteria is discussed with respect to the derived molecular phylogenies and systematics.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 16