Evidence of the Cost of the Production of Microcystins by Microcystis aeruginosa under Differing Light and Nitrate Environmental Conditions

The cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa is known to proliferate in freshwater ecosystems and to produce microcystins. It is now well established that much of the variability of bloom toxicity is due to differences in the relative proportions of microcystin-producing and non-microcystin-producing cells in cyanobacterial populations. In an attempt to elucidate changes in their relative proportions during cyanobacterial blooms, we compared the fitness of the microcystin-producing M. aeruginosa PCC 7806 strain (WT) to that of its non-microcystin-producing mutant (MT). We investigated the effects of two light intensities and of limiting and non-limiting nitrate concentrations on the growth of these strains in monoculture and co-culture experiments. We also monitored various physiological parameters, and microcystin production by the WT strain. In monoculture experiments, no significant difference was found between the growth rates or physiological characteristics of the two strains during the exponential growth phase. In contrast, the MT strain was found to dominate the WT strain in co-culture experiments under favorable growth conditions. Moreover, we also found an increase in the growth rate of the MT strain and in the cellular MC content of the WT strain. Our findings suggest that differences in the fitness of these two strains under optimum growth conditions were attributable to the cost to microcystin-producing cells of producing microcystins, and to the putative existence of cooperation processes involving direct interactions between these strains

Fonctionnement biogéochimique du lac du Bourget : phosphore, phytoplancton calcite et taux de sédimentation

8 pagesInternational audienceThe diversion, in 1980, of the main sewers entering Lake Bourget reduced significantly the nutrient loading and the inlake bioavailable phosphorus concentration, Nevertheless, paradoxically, the lake trophic state has not been clearly improved and blooms of toxic cyanobacteria (Planktothrix rubescens), which threaten the use of water, have been frequently observed since 1996, The main processes occurring in the phosphorus cycle have been studied in successive research projects (1988-1998), based on a joined approach of field survey and mathematical modelling. The settling fluxes of particulate matter and associated phosphorus species have been measured at the year and season scales. These results have highlighted that the sedimentation of particulate phosphorus is a very significant transfer process towards the bottom sediment, essential for the lake water quality restoration. Interplays between phosphorus, two types of major autochthonous particles, phytoplankton and calcite, and metallic oxides have been investigated, Nolwithstanding that, the obtained results were unsuccessful to make totally clear the origin of the phosphorus available for summer primary production, these results suggested that other Iwo-dimension, hydrodynamical processes, have to be considered.Les travaux d'assainissement menés dans le bassin versant du lac du Bourget depuis 1980 ont réduit les apports en nutriments et les concentrations en phosphore directement assimilable par les algues. Néanmoins, paradoxalement, l'état trophique du lac ne s'est pas significativement amélioré, des développements de cyanobactéries toxiques (Planktothrix rubescens) observés régulièrement depuis 1996, constituant une menace pour les usages de l'eau, Afin de préciser les processus principaux intervenant dans le cycle du phosphore, plusieurs programmes de recherche successifs, basés sur une double approche de terrain et de modélisation mathématique ont été entrepris de 1988 à 1998, Les flux de sédimentation de la matière particulaire et des formes du phosphore associées ont été quantifiés à l'échelle saisonnière et annuelle, mettant en évidence que la sédimentation du phosphore particulaire constituait un important mécanisme de transfert vers le compartiment sédimentaire de fond, essentiel pour la restauration du lac, Les interactions entre le phosphore et, d'une part deux types de particules dominantes de la matière particulaire autochtone, phytoplancton et calcite, d'autre part les oxydes métalliques ont été étudiées. S'il n'a pas été possible d'élucider totalement l'origine du phosphore utilisé pour la production primaire estivale, les résultats obtenus ont conduit à envisager d'autres mécanismes explicatifs, de nature hydrodynamique et bidimensionnelle

Biogeochemical Dynamics of Molybdenum in a Crater Lake: Seasonal Impact and Long-Term Removal

International audienceDespite a large variety of processes that can control Mo and its potential to become an environmental tracer of euxinic environment, this element is not often studied in lakes. The aim of this paper is to identify main seasonal biogeochemical processes that involve Mo in a well constrained freshwater system (Lake Pavin water-column) in order to evaluate their respective importance. In Lake Pavin, 4 main processes have been identified: 1) the transitional process represented by Mo assimilation of by phytoplankton in the epilimnion (nitrogen biological fixation and nitrate assimilation); 2) transient process represented by dissolved Mo adsorption onto Fe and Mn metal oxides at oxic/anoxic interface (depth 50 - 60 m); 3) Mo precipitation where apparent sulfide production rate is maximum, and from 80 m depths; 4) release of dissolved Mo due to Mo benthic flux or input from a deep source

Linking phytoplankton pigment composition and optical properties: A framework for developing remote-sensing metrics for monitoring cyanobacteria

International audienceThis study has been performed in the framework of a research program aiming to develop a low-cost aerial sensor for the monitoring of cyanobacteria in freshwater ecosystems that could be used for early detection. Several empirical and mechanistic remote-sensing tools have been already developed and tested at large scales and have proven useful in monitoring cyanobacterial blooms. However, the effectiveness of these tools for early detection is hard to assess because such work requires the detection of low concentrations of characteristic pigments amid complex ecosystems exhibiting several confounding factors (turbidity, blooms of other species, etc.). We developed a framework for performing high-throughput measurements of the absorbance and reflectance of small volumes (~= 20 mL) of controlled mixtures of phytoplankton species and studied the potential of this framework to validate remote-sensing proxies of cyanobacteria concentration. The absorption and reflectance spectra of single and multiple cultures carried a specific signal that allowed for the quantitative analysis of culture mixes. This specific signal was shown to be related to known pigment absorbance spectra. The concentrations of chlorophyll-a and -b, phycocyanin and phycoerythrin could be obtained from direct absorbance measurements and were correlated with the concentration obtained after pigment extraction (R2 ≥ 0.96 for all pigments). A systematic test of every possible two-band and three-band normalized difference between optical indices was then performed, and the coincidental correlation with chlorophyll-b (absent in cyanobacteria) was used as an indicator of non-specificity. Two-band indices were shown to suffer from non-specificity issues and could not yield strong and specific relationships with phycocyanin or phycoerythrin (maximum R2  0.8)

The Suitability of Chemical Products and Other Short-Term Remedial Methods for the Control of Cyanobacterial Blooms in Freshwater Ecosystems

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Les écosystèmes d'eau douce - Eutrophisation et cyanobactéries

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Les écosystèmes d'eau douce - Eutrophisation et cyanobactéries

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Les écosystèmes d'eau douce - Eutrophisation et cyanobactéries

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Deciphering biodiversity and interactions between bacteria and microeukaryotes within epilithic biofilms from the Loue River, France

Epilithic river biofilms are complex matrix-enclosed communities harboring a great diversity of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms. Interactions between these communities and the relative impacts of environmental factors on their compositions are poorly understood. In this study, we assessed the spatio-temporal variation in the diversity and composition of bacterial and microeukaryotic communities within biofilms in a French river. Significant changes were found in the composition of these microbial communities over the sampling period and between the upstream and downstream stations. In addition, the beta diversity of the bacterial community tended to decrease along the river, mostly as a result of turnover. These changes could be caused by the different water temperatures and geological and hydrological river contexts at the sampling sites (from karst landscape to river plain). Finally, our network analysis showed multiple correlations among dominant OTUs. Among them, negative correlations between Rhodobacteraceae and two other dominant groups of photosynthetic microorganisms (cyanobacteria and diatoms) were particularly interesting, which raises the question of what environmental factors trigger the changes occurring in benthic microbial photosynthetic communities

Rapid assessment of multiple-limiting factors of phytoplankton biomasse : bioassays, in vivo chlorophyll-a fluorescence, and factorial design

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