The identification and quantification of cysts in sediments by light microscopy

The identification and quantification of cysts in sediments by light microscopy can be difficult due to the small size and morphology of the cysts which are generally indistinguishable from those of other styles of algae. as vegetative cells may possess the GSK256066 gene duplicate amount of cysts double. To eliminate DNA particles through the sediment we created a simple technique concerning dilution with distilled drinking water and heating system at 75°C. A complete of 18 sediment examples were used to judge this technique. Cyst great quantity motivated using the qPCR assay without DNA debris removal yielded results up to 51-fold greater than with direct counting. By contrast a highly significant correlation was observed between cyst large quantity determined by direct counting and the qPCR assay in conjunction with DNA debris removal (< 0.001). Therefore this improved qPCR method should be a powerful tool for the accurate quantification of cysts in sediment samples. Introduction is usually a HAB-inducing resident of many coastal environments and is recognized as a harmful fish-killing phytoplankton. This species GSK256066 has significant unfavorable impacts on fisheries that can cost the aquaculture industry millions of dollars each year [1-4]. is known to have three life stages: vegetative cells resting cells and cysts [5-7]. Vegetative cells are generally heart-shaped although they can be quite variable and irregular whereas resting cells and cysts are nearly spherical. Both vegetative cells and resting cells have two flagella but the motility of resting cells is usually either non-existent or extremely low. By contrast cysts have a ridged cell wall and no flagella. Although both vegetative cells and cysts have been found condition [7 8 cysts are known to play an important role in bloom initiation [8 9 To more accurately evaluate the role of cysts in the bloom mechanisms of cysts they are most often quantified using indirect means such as the most probable number GSK256066 (MPN) method rather than direct counting with light microscopy [6 8 However the MPN method has the potential to both under- and overestimate sediment cyst large quantity [12 13 In addition the MPN method is not appropriate for large-scale sampling (i.e. many sample stations over long time scales) due to the time-consuming and laborious processes required for pre-treatment and observation [14]. Therefore alternate techniques must be developed to efficiently and accurately quantify cyst large quantity in sediment samples. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) is usually widely known as a sensitive accurate and efficient technique for quantifying phytoplankton in the vegetative stage [15-17]. However qPCR assays for quantifying phytoplankton in the resting stage have not been as well developed and are often inaccurate [18-20]. In particular the difference in rRNA gene copy number between cysts and vegetative cells can induce accuracy errors [19 21 22 Also unlike vegetative cells algal cysts have thick cell walls which can lead to relatively low DNA extraction yields compared with vegetative cells a potential source of GSK256066 error when performing qPCR assays [19]. Hence the construction of qPCR standard curves based on cysts rather than vegetative cells should be a priority. Finally a significant hurdle to previous qPCR-based studies including cyst quantification was the presence of large amounts of extracellular DNA in the sediment [23-26]. This extracellular DNA debris which can include target species DNA can lead to considerable overestimation when using qPCR-based assays [20]. Therefore a method for removing extracellular DNA debris is usually highly necessary to accurate quantification for resting cysts in sediment. To quantify cyst large quantity Portune cysts from organic sediments and created a strategy to remove DNA particles in the sediment which heretofore was not addressed in research monitoring dangerous algal cysts. Components and Strategies Ethics Statement No specific permits were required for the Rabbit Polyclonal to HBP1. sampling as the location (Youngsan River estuarine bay: 34°47’N 126 was not privately-owned or safeguarded and the field research didn’t involve endangered or covered types. Collection and pre-treatment of sediment examples Sediment samples had been collected in the Youngsan River estuarine bay on the southwest coastline of Korea during November 2012 (Fig 1). Dense blooms of often highly occur within this.