Evolutionary dynamics and population genomics of cyanobacterial blooms

蓝藻水华出现在世界各地的湖泊中，几乎每年都会在魁北克的许多湖泊中发生。水华微生物群落的主要成员通常是蓝藻铜绿微囊藻，其中一些菌株会产生对人类和牲畜有害的毒素。因此，水华可能会对公众健康构成威胁，许多研究都在了解水华动态和毒素产生的生物学方面。我们知道，在被富含氮和磷的化肥污染的湖泊中，水华更严重，但我们仍然缺乏控制水华或预测它们是否有毒的能力。像许多微生物一样，微囊藻迅速(至少在夏季开花期间)增长到庞大的种群规模，产生能够对自然选择做出快速反应的遗传多样性种群--这意味着它们可以实时进化，年复一年，或在夏季开花期间进化。

Cyanobacterial blooms occur in lakes worldwide, and almost yearly in many Quebec lakes. The dominant member of the bloom's microbial community is typically the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa, some strains of which produce toxins harmful to humans and livestock. Blooms can therefore pose a public health threat, and much research has gone into understanding the biology of bloom dynamics and toxin production. We know that blooms are more severe in lakes polluted with nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich fertilizers, but we still lack the ability to control blooms or predict whether they will be toxic. Like many microbes, Microcystis grow rapidly (at least during summer blooms) to large population sizes, generating genetically diverse populations that can respond rapidly to natural selection - meaning that they can evolve in real time, from year to year, or over the course of a summer bloom.