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Effects of intermediate metabolite carboxylic acids of TCA cycle on Microcystis with overproduction of phycocyanin

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Abstract

Toxic Microcystis species are the main bloom-forming cyanobacteria in freshwaters. It is imperative to develop efficient techniques to control these notorious harmful algal blooms (HABs). Here, we present a simple, efficient, and environmentally safe algicidal way to control Microcystis blooms, by using intermediate carboxylic acids from the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. The citric acid, alpha-ketoglutaric acid, succinic acid, fumaric acid, and malic acid all exhibited strong algicidal effects, and particularly succinic acid could cause the rapid lysis of Microcystis in a few hours. It is revealed that the Microcystis-lysing activity of succinic acid and other carboxylic acids was due to their strong acidic activity. Interestingly, the acid-lysed Microcystis cells released large amounts of phycocyanin, about 27-fold higher than those of the control. On the other hand, the transcription of mcyA and mcyD of the microcystin biosynthesis operon was not upregulated by addition of alpha-ketoglutaric acid and other carboxylic acids. Consider the environmental safety of intermediate carboxylic acids. We propose that administration of TCA cycle organic acids may not only provide an algicidal method with high efficiency and environmental safety but also serve as an applicable way to produce and extract phycocyanin from cyanobacterial biomass.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Chinese Academy of Science Grant Y15103-1-401 and One-Hundred Scholar Award to D.Q.

Conflict of interest

An application has been submitted for a Chinese patent (application number 201310669686.9) partly based on this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrobiology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Shijie Bai, Jingcheng Dai, Ming Xia, Jing Ruan, Hehong Wei, Dianzhen Yu, Ronghui Li, Lirong Song & Dongru Qiu

  2. School of Life Sciences and Technology, Hubei University of Engineering, 272 Jiaotong Avenue, Xiaogan, 432000, China

    Jingcheng Dai & Chunyuan Tian

  3. Sanya Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, The Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, 572000, China

    Shijie Bai & Hongmei Jing

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  1. Shijie Bai
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  2. Jingcheng Dai
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  3. Ming Xia
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  4. Jing Ruan
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  5. Hehong Wei
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  6. Dianzhen Yu
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  7. Ronghui Li
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  8. Hongmei Jing
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  9. Chunyuan Tian
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  10. Lirong Song
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  11. Dongru Qiu
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Correspondence to Dongru Qiu.

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Bai, S., Dai, J., Xia, M. et al. Effects of intermediate metabolite carboxylic acids of TCA cycle on Microcystis with overproduction of phycocyanin. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 5531–5537 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3730-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3730-x

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