Chemical and genome-based quanttitative tracing of toxic cyanobacterial blooms

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A steady supply of water of consistent quality is essential for everyone's well-being and the efficient functioning of society in general. However, a growing number of communities in Canada have been confronted by recreational and drinking water poisoned by toxic cyanobacterial blooms. Cyanobacteria are plant-like microorganisms which grow rapidly in polluted lakes. When very abundant, these free-floating organisms can make lake and reservoir water unfit for consumption. We are proposing to develop and apply a rapid, sensitive method for the detection and identification, in field and laboratory samples, of the most common and worrisome cyanobacterial toxin, a liver poison called microcystin. This assay will be based on detection of the microcystin gene in lakes using modern molecular biology techniques. The assay will be used not only for the practical purpose of providing an early warning system for lake users and water filtration plants of the most at-risk ecosystems, but also for the wider goal of studying for the first time the specific environmental circumstances that favour the development and formation of blooms of toxin-producing cyanobacteria in lakes, rivers and reservoirs of central Canada. This initiative will form the basis of a long term program of  gene-based environmental control of cyanobacterial and other waterborne biotoxins.