Department of Genetic Toxicology and Cancer Biology, National Institute of Biology, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Toxins (Basel). 2024 Jul 27;16(8):333. doi: 10.3390/toxins16080333.
Cyanobacteria are adaptable and dominant organisms that exist in many harsh and extreme environments due to their great ecological tolerance. They produce various secondary metabolites, including cyanotoxins. While cyanobacteria are well studied in surface waters and some aerial habitats, numerous other habitats and niches remain underexplored. We collected 61 samples of: (i) biofilms from springs, (ii) aerial microbial mats from buildings and subaerial mats from caves, and (iii) water from borehole wells, caves, alkaline, saline, sulphidic, thermal, and iron springs, rivers, seas, and melted cave ice from five countries (Croatia, Georgia, Italy, Serbia, and Slovenia). We used (q)PCR to detect cyanobacteria (phycocyanin intergenic spacer-PC-IGS and cyanobacteria-specific 16S rRNA gene) and cyanotoxin genes (microcystins-, saxitoxins-, cylindrospermopsins-), as well as amplicon sequencing and morphological observations for taxonomic identification. Cyanobacteria were detected in samples from caves, a saline spring, and an alkaline spring. While or genes were not observed in any sample, results showed the presence of a potential cylindrospermopsin producer in a biofilm from a sulphidic spring in Slovenia. This study contributes to our understanding of cyanobacteria occurrence in diverse habitats, including rare and extreme ones, and provides relevant methodological considerations for future research in such environments.
蓝藻是适应性强且占优势的生物体，由于其强大的生态耐受性，它们存在于许多恶劣和极端的环境中。它们会产生各种次生代谢产物，包括蓝藻毒素。虽然蓝藻在地表水和一些空中生境中得到了很好的研究，但仍有许多其他生境和生态位尚未被探索。我们采集了 61 个样本：（i）泉水生物膜，（ii）建筑物气生微生物垫和洞穴地气生微生物垫，以及（iii）来自五个国家（克罗地亚、格鲁吉亚、意大利、塞尔维亚和斯洛文尼亚）的钻孔井、洞穴、碱性、盐度、硫化物、温泉、铁泉、河流、海洋和融化洞穴冰中的水。我们使用（q）PCR 来检测蓝藻（藻蓝蛋白基因间 spacer-PC-IGS 和蓝藻特异性 16S rRNA 基因）和蓝藻毒素基因（微囊藻毒素、石房蛤毒素、圆柱鱼腥藻毒素-），以及扩增子测序和形态学观察进行分类鉴定。在洞穴、盐泉和碱性泉的样本中检测到了蓝藻。虽然在任何样本中都没有观察到 或 基因，但 结果表明在斯洛文尼亚一个硫化物泉的生物膜中存在潜在的圆柱鱼腥藻毒素生产者。本研究有助于我们了解蓝藻在各种生境中的存在情况，包括稀有和极端生境，并为未来在这些环境中的研究提供了相关的方法学考虑。
