Cyanotoxin-encoding genes as powerful predictors of cyanotoxin production during harmful cyanobacterial blooms in an inland freshwater lake: Evaluating a novel early-warning system.

ABSTRACT: Freshwater harmful cyanobacterial blooms (HCBs) potentially produce excessive cyanotoxins, mainly microcystins (MCs), significantly threatening aquatic ecosystems and public health. Accurately predicting HCBs is thus essential to developing effective HCB mitigation and prevention strategies. We previously developed a novel early-warning system that uses cyanotoxin-encoding genes to predict cyanotoxin production in Harsha Lake, Ohio, USA, in 2015. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of the early-warning system in forecasting the 2016 HCB in the same lake. We also examined potential HCB drivers and cyanobacterial community composition. Our results revealed that the cyanobacterial community was stable at the phylum level but changed dynamically at the genus level over time. Microcystis a

SUBMITTER: Duan X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9698223 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature