Chemical and genome-based quanttitative tracing of toxic cyanobacterial blooms

质量稳定的水供应对每个人的福祉和整个社会的有效运作至关重要。然而，加拿大越来越多的社区面临着被有毒蓝藻华污染的娱乐和饮用水。蓝藻是一种类似植物的微生物，在被污染的湖泊中迅速生长。当这些自由漂浮的生物非常丰富时，会使湖泊和水库的水不适合饮用。我们建议开发并应用一种快速、灵敏的方法，用于在现场和实验室样品中检测和鉴定最常见和最令人担忧的蓝藻毒素，一种称为微囊藻毒素的肝脏毒素。该试验将基于使用现代分子生物学技术检测湖泊中的微囊藻毒素基因。该试验不仅将用于为最危险生态系统的湖泊用户和水过滤厂提供早期预警系统的实际目的，而且还将用于更广泛的目标，即首次研究有利于在加拿大中部湖泊、河流和水库中产生毒素的蓝藻的发展和形成的特定环境条件。这一举措将形成一个长期计划的基础上，以基因为基础的环境控制蓝藻和其他水生生物毒素。

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.