POSTER: Study of gene identification of toxin producing cyanobacteria in Lake Trafford and testing for presence or absence of the genes
Research Mentor: Dr. Barry Rosen
Additional Authors:
Abstract:
Cyanobacteria, common name blue-green algae, are small single cell organism that have in recent years become an important topic of discussion in Florida. This is largely due to their ability to produce a class of toxins called cyanotoxins which include potent neurotoxins, hepatotoxins, cytotoxins, and endotoxins. To characterize the threat to human health we worked on two aspects of understanding and characterizing the nature of freshwater cyanobacteria blooms and we believe that early detection of toxin genes could be used in conjunction with control methods before a bloom becomes too difficult to treat. In addition to getting morphically data we aimed to identify the gene complexes responsible for producing specific cyanotoxins and use Molecular detection methods to test for the specific genes in the samples, even though the sample may not have been currently producing the toxin at time of collection. This is due to toxins being released during cell lysis. To achieve this, we tested samples from three different points in lake Trafford monthly over the span of a year and used qPCR to test for the presence or absence of the gene complexes responsible for four different cyanotoxins; Microsystin (mcyE gene) Saxitoxin (sxtA gene), Anatoxin (anaC gene), Cylindrospermopsin (cyrA gene).