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DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF A FIBER OPTIC ARRAY SYSTEM FOR DETECTION AND ENUMERATION OF POTENTIALLY TOXIC CYANOBACTERIA
Impact/Purpose:
The overall project goal is to adapt and validate a rapid and accurate optical fiber-based technology for cyanoHAB cell detection and enumeration in both laboratory and field settings. Specific objectives are to: 1) design ribosomal RNA (rRNA) signal and capture probes for the three most important toxic cyanobacteria (Microcystis aeruginosa, Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, and Anabaena flos-aquae) using published sequences; 2) design and test a second probe pair for each species to incorporate redundancy into the array; 3) test these probes in the fiber-optic array format and determine detection limits, specificity, and dynamic range; 4) refine hybridization conditions to reduce processing time; 5) develop procedures to analyze multiple cyanoHAB species simultaneously using a single fiber bundle in a multiplexed format and validate it using mixed cultures and spiked and unspiked field samples; 6) work with individuals and agencies responsible for fresh- and brackish water management to determine desired detection limits, precision, new cyanobacterial species for future probe design, and operational characteristics for the assay and instrumentation that would be developed around it; and 7) prepare a detailed protocol for sample handling and processing for this method.
Description:
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have become a serious threat to freshwater and marine waters worldwide, impacting humans, animals, and aquatic ecosystems. In freshwater, many cyanobacterial blooms (cyanoHABs) produce neurotoxic, hepatotoxic, dermatotoxic, or other bioactive compounds. As a result, managers need rapid, sensitive methods that can accurately identify and enumerate harmful species in a water body, yet to date, no methods exist that can be used to enumerate multiple species in the same sample and that can be deployed in small, bench-top instruments or on moorings for automated detection. This proposed project employs an innovative approach to HAB cell enumeration - fiber optic genosensors. It builds from prior studies on marine HAB species, for which this technology is well advanced. Once the technology is adapted and refined for freshwater cyanobacteria, we will test them using a portable instrument designed for clinical use in human pathogen detection.