Journal Article

Metabologenomics reveals strain-level genetic and chemical diversity of Microcystis secondary metabolism

Dick, Gregory J., Hart, Lauren, Newmister, Sean A., Yancey, Colleen E., Hefferan, Sierra, Tripathi, Ashootosh, Mohamed, Osama G., Sherman, David H.

2024

Overview

The genus Microcystis forms dense cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) and can produce the toxin microcystin, which has been responsible for drinking water crises around the world. While microcystins are of great concern, Microcystis also produces an abundance of other secondary metabolites that may be of interest due to their potential for toxicity, ecological importance, or pharmaceutical applications. In this study, we combine genomic and metabolomic approaches to study the genes responsible for the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites as well as the chemical diversity of produced metabolites in Microcystis strains from the Western Lake Erie Culture Collection. This unique collection comprises Microcystis strains that were directly isolated from western Lake Erie, which experiences substantial cyanoHAB events annually and has had negative impacts on drinking water, tourism, and industry.

• Publisher: American Society for Microbiology
• Subject: Algal blooms / Biosynthesis / Congeners / cyanoHABs / Drinking water / Environmental Microbiology / Enzymes / Gene clusters / Genes / Genetic diversity / Genome, Bacterial - genetics / Harmful Algal Bloom / Hepatotoxicity / Lakes - microbiology / Metabolism / Metabolites / metabologenomics / Metabolome / Metabolomics / Microcystins / Microcystins - biosynthesis / Microcystins - genetics / Microcystins - metabolism / Microcystis / Microcystis - genetics / Microcystis - metabolism / Multigene Family - genetics / natural products / Peptides / Phylogenetics / Research Article / secondary metabolism / Secondary Metabolism - genetics / Secondary metabolites / Tourism / Toxicity / Water quality / Water supply