Citation:

Linz, D., N. Sienkiewicz, I. Struewing, E. Stelzer, J. Graham, AND J. Lu. Metagenomic mapping of cyanobacteria and potential cyanotoxin producing taxa in large rivers of the United States. Scientific Reports. Nature Publishing Group, London, Uk, 13:2806, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29037-6

Impact/Purpose:

1) Public concern over cyanobacterial blooms has increased due to their higher frequency of occurrences and their potential ecological and health impacts. 2)Microcystin is also the most common cyanotoxin produced with Microcystis and Planktothrix being the major toxin producing cyanobacterial genera during CyanoHABs. Previously, we have characterize cyanobacterial communities and toxic species in lake waters. However, the toxic cyanobacteria in the large rivers of the United States have limited documentation. 3) This information can be used to aid in toxin measurements and aid in making management decisions related to harmful algal blooms. 4) OW, regional offices, scientists and water quality managers could be interested in the results.

Description:

Cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin producing cyanobacterial blooms are a trending focus of current research. Many studies focus on bloom events in lentic environments such as lakes or ponds. Comparatively few studies have explored lotic environments and fewer still have examined the cyanobacterial communities and potential cyanotoxin producers during ambient, non-bloom conditions. Here we used a metagenomics-based approach to profile non-bloom microbial communities and cyanobacteria in 12 major U.S. rivers at multiple time points during the summer months of 2019. Our data show that U.S. rivers possess microbial communities that are taxonomically rich, yet largely consistent across geographic location and time. Within these communities, cyanobacteria often comprise significant portions and frequently include multiple species with known cyanotoxin producing strains. We further characterized these potential cyanotoxin producing taxa by deep sequencing amplicons of the microcystin E (mcyE) gene. We found that rivers containing the highest levels of potential cyanotoxin producing cyanobacteria consistently possess taxa with the genetic potential for cyanotoxin production and that, among these taxa, the predominant genus of origin for the mcyE gene is Microcystis. Combined, these data provide a unique perspective on cyanobacteria and potential cyanotoxin producing taxa that exist in large rivers across the U.S. and can be used to better understand the ambient conditions that may precede bloom events in lotic freshwater ecosystems.

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