Discovery of microcystin-producing Anagnostidinema pseudacutissimum from cryopreserved Antarctic cyanobacterial mats

Microcystins (MCs) are secondary metabolites produced by cyanobacteria and have been well-documented in temperate and tropical regions. However, knowledge of the production of MCs in extremely cold environments is still in its infancy. Recently, examination of 100-year-old Antarctic cyanobacterial m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Harmful Algae
Main Authors: Zaki, Nur Syazana, Merican, Faradina, Muangmai, Narongrit, Convey, Peter, Broady, Paul
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Elsevier 2020
Subjects:
Antarctic
Ross Island
McMurdo Ice Shelf
Crozier
Cape Crozier
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice Shelf
Online Access:http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/525158/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568988320300809
Description
Summary:Microcystins (MCs) are secondary metabolites produced by cyanobacteria and have been well-documented in temperate and tropical regions. However, knowledge of the production of MCs in extremely cold environments is still in its infancy. Recently, examination of 100-year-old Antarctic cyanobacterial mats collected from Ross Island and the McMurdo Ice Shelf during Captain R.F. Scott's Discovery Expedition revealed that the presence of MCs in Antarctica is not a new phenomenon. Here, morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses are used to identify a new microcystin-producing freshwater cyanobacterium, Anagnostidinema pseudacutissimum. The strain was isolated from a deep-frozen (−15 °C) sample collected from a red-brown cyanobacterial mat in a frozen pond at Cape Crozier (Ross Island, continental Antarctica) in 1984–1985. Amplification of the mcyE gene fragment involved in microcystin biosynthesis from A. pseudacutissimum confirmed that it is identical to the sequence from other known microcystin-producing cyanobacteria. Analysis of extracts from this A. pseudacutissimum strain by HPLC-MS/MS confirmed the presence of MC-LR and -YR at concentrations of 0.60 μg/L and MC-RR at concentrations of 0.20 μg/L. This is the first report of microcystin production from a species of Anagnostidinema from Antarctica.

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