Abstract
In the last decades, an apparent increase in the frequency of benthic cyanobacterial blooms has occurred in coral reefs and tropical lagoons, possibly in part because of global change and anthropogenic activities. In the frame of the survey of marine benthic cyanobacteria proliferating in the lagoon of Moorea Island (French Polynesia), 15 blooms were collected, mainly involving three species—Anabaena sp.1, Lyngbya majuscula and Hydrocoleum majus-B. Their chemical fingerprints, obtained through high performance liquid chromatography combined with UV detection and mass spectrometry (HPLC-UV-MS) analyses, revealed a high extent of species-specificity. The chemical profile of Anabaena sp.1 was characterized by three major cyclic lipopeptides of the laxaphycin family, whereas the one of L. majuscula was characterized by a complex mixture including tiahuramides, trungapeptins and serinol-derived malyngamides. Toxicity screening analyses conducted on these cyanobacterial samples using Artemia salina and mouse neuroblastoma cell-based (CBA-N2a) cytotoxic assays failed to show any toxicity to a degree that would merit risk assessment with regard to public health. However, the apparently increasing presence of blooms of Lyngbya, Hydrocoleum, Anabaena or other benthic cyanobacteria on coral reefs in French Polynesia encourages the implementation of ad hoc monitoring programs for the surveillance of their proliferation and potential assessment of associated hazards.
Highlights
Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes with a high morphological, physiological and metabolic diversity, with fossil records dating back to around 3 billion years ago [1,2]
The present study was conducted in parallel to the study recently published by Zubia et al [22], in order to assess the chemical diversity and potential toxicity of some benthic cyanobacterial blooms collected in the lagoon of Moorea Island (Society archipelago, French Polynesia)
The fifteen benthic cyanobacterial blooms sampled during the study were found to contain the following six species (Table 1)—Anabaena sp.1 (Figure 2A), Anabaena sp.2 (Figure 2B), Hydrocoleum majus-B (Figure 2C), Leptolyngbya sp.2 (Figure 2D), Lyngbya majuscula (Figure 2E) and Phormidium sp.1 (Figure 2F)
Summary
Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes with a high morphological, physiological and metabolic diversity, with fossil records dating back to around 3 billion years ago [1,2]. The present study was conducted in parallel to the study recently published by Zubia et al [22], in order to assess the chemical diversity and potential toxicity of some benthic cyanobacterial blooms collected in the lagoon of Moorea Island (Society archipelago, French Polynesia) To this end, the chemical fingerprints of organic extracts from benthic cyanobacterial blooms were acquired through high performance liquid chromatography combined with UV detection and mass spectrometry (HPLC-UV-MS) analyses, while their potential toxicity was evaluated using the Artemia salina (brine shrimp) lethality bioassay as well as the mouse neuroblastoma cell-based assay (CBA-N2a). Since the LC-MS method used was designed to study mid- and non-polar secondary metabolites, the chemical fingerprints of the hydrophilic fractions obtained with the extraction method described below for the toxicological analyses (see Section 2.3) were not acquired and not shown
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
