Molecular Detection of Some Toxigenic Cyanobacteria in Tigris River in Baghdad–Iraq

Cyanobacteria and their emissions are becoming more widely reported around the world, posing a serious threat to both the environment and human health. Several orders of cyanobacteria have been identified to make cyanotoxin, the most common algal toxin. The aim of this research was to develop a method for detecting cylindrosprmopsin and saxitoxin biosynthesis genes in rivers .In November, December 2019 and January2020. Cyanobacteria were isolated from Tigris River freshwater and detected using a compound microscope as well as traditional PCR .All cyanobacteria isolates contained phycocyanin gene fragment. Five isolates of cyanobacteria in these study was successfully amplified a phycocyanin gene (Microcystis flosaquae, Microcystis sp, anabaena circinalis ,nostoc commune and westiellopsis prolifica) and all isolates successfully amplified aoaC gene to detecting the cylidrospemopsin and the saxitoxin. Our findings show that a PCR assay can be used to detect cylidrospemopsin and saxitoxin-producing cyanobacteria in river water, which is useful for stations that prepare drinking water for the public.

Response of paddy field cyanobacterium, Westiellopsis prolifica Janet to the inorganic nitrogenous fertilizers

Cyanobacteria are prokaryotic nitrogen fixing microorganism which played a significant role in the nitrogen fixation and contributed much to the submerged rice cropping system of the world. It can luxuriantly flourish in paddy fields and providing nitrogen as well as various growth promoting substances that influence the growth of paddy plants. India, being an important rice producing country of the world, depends upon various inorganic fertilizers for rice cultivation. The heterocystous cyanobacterium, Westiellopsis prolifca is a common inhabitant in most of the paddy fields of Kerala. The growth and other biochemical parameters upon the growth of cyanobacterium were assayed. The nitrogenous fertilizer ammonium sulphate influences the chlorophyll-a synthesis, protein content and growth rate. But the ammonia excretion was drastically reduced in cyanobacterial cultures upon the treatment with inorganic fertilizers.

First record of cyanobacteria species: Cephalothrix komarekiana, from tropical Asia

Cyanobacteria play an important ecological role in every ecosystem with hidden economic and social impact. Among tropical countries, Sri Lanka holds a rich biodiversity with remarkable cyanobacterial diversity. The major objective of this study was to investigate the diversity of culturable cyanobacteria from freshwater bodies of Sri Lanka, with a phylogenetic perspective. Molecular characterization followed by phylogenetic evaluations allowed identification of new species with value added potential and revealed deeper taxonomic resolutions. A total of 74 monocultures were obtained. Rare isolates; Alkalinema pantanalense (U4), Geitlerinema sp. (U36) and Westiellopsis prolifica (U58) were also among them. Novel species Cephalothrix komarekiana was identified for the first time in Sri Lanka. This species was first reported from South American continent (Brazil and Amazonian rivers in 2015 and 2017 respectively) and Korea in 2018. The present study is next in line reporting the species first time from the tropical Asia. Higher value added potential and easy culturing of C. komarekiana suggest its economical applicability in many industries. Overall, this study provides insight on diversity, ecological distribution and industrial applicability of culturable cyanobacteria from the tropics with special reference to C. komarekiana reported from Sri Lanka.

Molecular and Immunological Methods to Confirm Toxiginicity (Microcystin Production) of Westiellopsis Prolifica Isolated from Tigris River – Iraq

Several toxigenic cyanobacteria produce the cyanotoxin (microcystin). Being a health and environmental hazard, screening of water sources for the presence of microcystin is increasingly becoming a recommended environmental procedure in many countries of the world. This study was conducted to assess the ability of freshwater cyanobacterial species Westiellopsis prolifica to produce microcystins in Iraqi freshwaters via using molecular and immunological tools. The toxigenicity of W. prolifica was compared via laboratory experiments with other dominant bloom-forming cyanobacteria isolated from the Tigris River: Microcystis aeruginosa, Chroococcus turigidus, Nostoc carneum, and Lyngbya sp. significant expression of mcyE gene and microcystin production was most evident in W. prolifica. Contrary to the prevailing concept that M. aeruginosa is a main microcystin producer in freshwaters around the world, no significant microcystin production was observed with this species throughout the time points studied in our laboratory methods. As for C. turigidus, N. carneum and Lyngbya sp., neither mcyE expression nor microcystin production was significant. Data from mcyE expression by RT-qPCR were generally in agreement with those obtained from microcystin quantification by ELISA. Interestingly, W. prolifica, which showed clear microcystin-producing ability in this study and which was not reported before in the literature to produce microcystin, can be added as a new microcystin producer to the list of toxigenic cyanobacteria.

Evaluating growth and biochemistry of Westiellopsis prolifica in response to Malathion

The present endeavour was aimed to investigate the chronic response of Westiellopsis prolifica to an organophosphate insecticide malathion at different concentrations 30, 60 and 90ppm. The influence of malathion on growth (biomass), pigments (chlorophyll-a, carotenoid), release of metabolites such as protein and carbohydrate was analysed for a period of 16 days under aseptic laboratory conditions. Results revealed enhancement in chlorophyll-a production at 30ppm on 4th day (p?0.05) and 8th day (p?0.05), from the day of inoculation. On the other hand, there was a significant decrease in the carotenoid, protein and carbohydrate content with increase in malathion concentration in a time and dose dependent manner. However, a little but insignificant increase in biomass was recorded on the 4th day at 30ppm concentration over the control. The study revealed that the reduction in biomass, protein and carbohydrate content with the increase of malathion concentrations was an indication of its toxicity to the test cyanobacterium which is one of the natural biofertilizers in the rice field ecosystem.

Antimicrobial Activity of Freshwater Cyanobacterium Westiellopsis prolifica

The acetone and hexane of Westiellopsis prolifica extracts were examine efficiency against patho-genic bacterial and fungal isolates by using two methods: agar well diffusion and turbidiometric (tube method) against three Gram positive bacteria"Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Streptococcus sp." and three Gram- negative bacteria" Shigella sp., Proteus sp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa " in additions to two isolates of fungi "Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans". The re-sults showed that crude acetone extract for W. prolifica better than the haxane extract and more efficient on negative gram bacteria than positive gram bacteria. The results of the agar well diffusion method evaluated that W. Prolifica acetone extract has the highest antibacterial activities against Streptococcus sp., S. aureus and A.niger with an inhibition zone of (20) mm, and the inhibition diam-eter to other bacteria and fungi were between(15-10) mm.While tube method showed that the ace-tone extract exhibited the highest inhibition against A.niger and less inhibiting to C. albicans. Purifica-tion of the acetone extracts was made by silica gel column chromatography, and among the five groups extracts, Group 2 (Benzene 50ml) was selected and analyzed by GC-MS. The presence of main components identified in the extract as alcohols, acids, monoterpene eucalyptol, hydrocarbons (unidecane) aromaticslike, Para- Xylene and 1,2,3 trimethyl benzene, Phytol, n-Hexadecanoic acid, etc. These purified active compounds take part into broad horizons in the fields of biotechnology and pharmacy.