Author(s)

Roksana M. Rahman¹, Alexandra Greco¹, Alisha Nanda¹, Christian Rios-Ruiz¹, Yan Wang¹, Paul Yoon¹, Dena J. Restaino², John J. Gaynor³, Paul A. X. Bologna³, Tinchun Chu^1*

¹Department of Biological Sciences, Seton Hall University, NJ, USA.
²Department of Biology and Chemistry, County College of Morris, Randolph, NJ, USA.
³Department of Biology, Montclair State University, NJ, USA.

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHAB), caused by eutrophication, are known to threaten both wildlife and human health. Due to urbanization and land use changes, an increase of CHAB’s at a more frequent rate within Barnegat Bay has been observed. In order to detect possible CHAB causing cyanobacteria, water samples were collected from 12 different locations within Barnegat Bay. Each sample was filtered through a 30- and 0.4-μm polycarbonate filter sequentially. Flow cytometry was carried out for the filtrate collected between 0.4- and 30-μm. Chelex DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and gel electrophoresis were then performed for all sites using four primer sets (27F/785R, PSF/UR, CYA359F/CYA781R and MSF/MSR) designed to detect cyanobacteria. Flow cytometric results indicated the water samples contained a wide range of cyanobacteria, including M. aeruginosa, Cylindrospermum spp., Anabaena spp., and Synechococcus sp. IU 625 ranges from 3.16 to 8.17 × 10⁷ cells·L^-1. PCR-based assays suggest that general cyanobacteria as well as phytospecific species were present for all sites, but no toxin-producing Microcystis aeruginosa was detected. Plaque assays demonstrated the presence of cyanophages for S. IU 625, Anabaena spp., and M. aeruginosa at all sites, up to 10⁵ PFU·ml^-1.

Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms, Eutrophication, Flow Cytometry, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Plaque Assay

Rahman, R. , Greco, A. , Nanda, A. , Rios-Ruiz, C. , Wang, Y. , Yoon, P. , Restaino, D. , Gaynor, J. , Bologna, P. and Chu, T. (2019) Detection and Characterization of the Cyanobacteria and Cyanophages of Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. Journal of Environmental Protection, 10, 1472-1483. doi: 10.4236/jep.2019.1011087.