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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2002, p. 5296-5303, Vol. 68, No. 11
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.11.5296-5303.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Diversity of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (Cyanobacterium) Populations along a Baltic Sea Salinity Gradient

Maria J. Laamanen,1,2 Laura Forsström,2,{dagger} and Kaarina Sivonen1*

Department of Applied Chemistry and Microbiology, Division of Microbiology, Viikki Biocenter, 00014 University of Helsinki,1 Finnish Institute of Marine Research, 00931 Helsinki, Finland2

Received 13 March 2002/ Accepted 30 July 2002

Colony-forming cyanobacteria of the genus Aphanizomenon form massive blooms in the brackish water of the Baltic Sea during the warmest summer months. There have been recent suggestions claiming that the Baltic Sea Aphanizomenon species may be different from Aphanizomenon flos-aquae found in lakes. In this study, we examined variability in the morphology and 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of A. flos-aquae populations along a salinity gradient from a string of lakes to a fjord-like extension of the Baltic Sea to the open Baltic Sea. Morphological differences among the populations were negligible. We found that the Baltic Sea was dominated (25 out of 27 sequences) by one ITS1-S (shorter band of ITS 1 [ITS1]) genotype, which also was found in the lakes. The lake populations of A. flos-aquae tended to be genetically more diverse than the Baltic Sea populations. Since the lake ITS1-S genotypes of A. flos-aquae are continuously introduced to the Baltic Sea via inflowing waters, it seems that only one ITS1 genotype is able to persist in the Baltic Sea populations. The results suggest that one of the ITS1-S genotypes found in the lakes is better adapted to the conditions of the Baltic Sea and that natural selection removes most of the lake genotypes from the Baltic Sea A. flos-aquae populations.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Applied Chemistry and Microbiology, Division of Microbiology, Viikki Biocenter, P.O. Box 56, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Phone: 358-9-19159270. Fax: 358-9-19159322. E-mail: kaarina.sivonen{at}helsinki.fi.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Ecology and Systematics, Division of Hydrobiology, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2002, p. 5296-5303, Vol. 68, No. 11
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.11.5296-5303.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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