Inhibition of Scenedesmus quadricauda on Microcystis flos-aquae

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 103; no. 14; pp. 5907 - 5916
• Main Authors: Qiu, Yongting, Wang, Zhihong, Liu, Feng, Liu, Junxia, Tan, Kaiting, Ji, Ruibo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2019; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acids; Algae; Algae harvesting; Algal blooms; Allelochemicals; Allelopathy; Biomass; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biopolymers; Biotechnology; Chlorophyll; Cyanobacteria; Environmental Biotechnology; Eutrophication; Hydrophytes; Inhibition; Life Sciences; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Microcystis; Polysaccharides; Saccharides; Scenedesmus quadricauda; Secretion; Water quality; China; Allelopathic effect; Allelochemicals; Microcystis flos-aquae; Scenedesmus quadricauda
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-019-09809-9

Allelopathy by hydrophytes can be utilized to control algal blooms. This study was conducted to investigate the allelopathic effect (inhibition) of Scenedesmus quadricauda on Microcystis flos-aquae . When M. flos-aquae was co-cultured with S. quadricauda , the secretion of high-MW biopolymer by M. flos-aquae was inhibited by S. quadricauda . We further identified the allelochemicals and found that 4-tert-butylpyrocatechol (TBC) was the main active ingredient that could inhibit the growth of M. flos-aquae . When the dose of TBC was larger than 0.2 mg/L, almost all of the M. flos-aquae died. Additionally, TBC was found to suppress the growth of M. flos-aquae by disturbing the synthesis and secretion of proteins and polysaccharides and harming the chlorophyll to affect the light harvesting of algal cells. Therefore, TBC has the potential for use as a potential and promising algaecide to restrain the biomass of M. flos-aquae .