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Development of a quantitative PCR method to explore the historical occurrence of a nuisance microalga under expansion

Johansson, Karin S. L. ; Lührig, Katharina LU ; Klaminder, Jonatan and Rengefors, Karin LU (2016) In Harmful Algae 56. p.67-76
Abstract

A number of marine and freshwater harmful algal bloom (HAB) species have colonized new areas and expanded their habitat range in recent years. Nevertheless it is notoriously difficult to establish when colonization first occurred, what the dispersal routes are, and to separate recent invasion from increases in existent but small populations. The freshwater raphidophyte Gonyostomum semen is a nuisance species that has expanded its habitat range and increased in abundance in northern Europe during the past decades. To evaluate to what extent sediments can be used for determining historic occurrence of G. semen, a quantitative real-time PCR method for detecting cysts of this algae was developed. This paper presents a qPCR protocol with a... (More)

A number of marine and freshwater harmful algal bloom (HAB) species have colonized new areas and expanded their habitat range in recent years. Nevertheless it is notoriously difficult to establish when colonization first occurred, what the dispersal routes are, and to separate recent invasion from increases in existent but small populations. The freshwater raphidophyte Gonyostomum semen is a nuisance species that has expanded its habitat range and increased in abundance in northern Europe during the past decades. To evaluate to what extent sediments can be used for determining historic occurrence of G. semen, a quantitative real-time PCR method for detecting cysts of this algae was developed. This paper presents a qPCR protocol with a set of primers that are specific to Gonyostomum and with PCR conditions optimized for sediment samples from humic lakes, which are the common habitat of G. semen. With this sensitive method as few as 1.6 cysts per PCR reaction could be reliably quantified, corresponding to 320 cysts per g wet weight sediment. Cysts were present in sediments with ages ranging from years to decades and their persistence allows detection of historic populations up to at least 50 years old. With this qPCR assay it will be possible to trace the presence of G. semen in environments prior to the onset of algae-specific monitoring programs as well as for quantification in water column samples.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Benthic cysts, Colonization, Gonyostomum semen, Invasion, qPCR, Raphidophyceae
in
Harmful Algae
volume
56
pages
10 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:84969528687
  • wos:000379277100007
  • pmid:28073497
ISSN
1568-9883
DOI
10.1016/j.hal.2016.04.012
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1b733a08-991a-4b50-aa89-19eb6f4cb1a3
date added to LUP
2016-09-27 14:06:44
date last changed
2024-01-04 13:20:52
@article{1b733a08-991a-4b50-aa89-19eb6f4cb1a3,
  abstract     = {{<p>A number of marine and freshwater harmful algal bloom (HAB) species have colonized new areas and expanded their habitat range in recent years. Nevertheless it is notoriously difficult to establish when colonization first occurred, what the dispersal routes are, and to separate recent invasion from increases in existent but small populations. The freshwater raphidophyte Gonyostomum semen is a nuisance species that has expanded its habitat range and increased in abundance in northern Europe during the past decades. To evaluate to what extent sediments can be used for determining historic occurrence of G. semen, a quantitative real-time PCR method for detecting cysts of this algae was developed. This paper presents a qPCR protocol with a set of primers that are specific to Gonyostomum and with PCR conditions optimized for sediment samples from humic lakes, which are the common habitat of G. semen. With this sensitive method as few as 1.6 cysts per PCR reaction could be reliably quantified, corresponding to 320 cysts per g wet weight sediment. Cysts were present in sediments with ages ranging from years to decades and their persistence allows detection of historic populations up to at least 50 years old. With this qPCR assay it will be possible to trace the presence of G. semen in environments prior to the onset of algae-specific monitoring programs as well as for quantification in water column samples.</p>}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Karin S. L. and Lührig, Katharina and Klaminder, Jonatan and Rengefors, Karin}},
  issn         = {{1568-9883}},
  keywords     = {{Benthic cysts; Colonization; Gonyostomum semen; Invasion; qPCR; Raphidophyceae}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  pages        = {{67--76}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Harmful Algae}},
  title        = {{Development of a quantitative PCR method to explore the historical occurrence of a nuisance microalga under expansion}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hal.2016.04.012}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.hal.2016.04.012}},
  volume       = {{56}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}