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Establishment of high-cell-density heterotrophic cultivation of Poterioochromonas malhamensis contributes to achieving biological control of Microcystis

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Abstract

The chrysophyte Poterioochromonas malhamensis has potential for controlling algal blooms through rapid grazing of toxic Microcystis cells and efficient degradation of microcystin. However, this method has not been used in practice because a high-cell-density method for cultivating P. malhamensis has not yet been established and the actual effect of the chrysophyte in controlling Microcystis blooms in the field is still unknown. To achieve the application of this method, high-cell-density heterotrophic cultivation of P. malhamensis was established through optimizing the carbon/glucose concentration, C:N ratio, temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen concentration. Under optimized conditions, the cell concentration of P. malhamensis reached more than 3 × 108 cells mL−1, which exceeds that reported in other studies by more than an order of magnitude. The ability of the chemoheterotrophic P. malhamensis to graze unicellular Microcystis cells was comparable to that of autotrophic and phagotrophic P. malhamensis. A controlled field experiment showed that chemoheterotrophic P. malhamensis could live in the aquatic environment with a Microcystis bloom and decrease the Microcystis biomass on the surface of the water by promoting the sedimentation of colonial Microcystis cells. This study offers an opportunity to drive the development of methods to control Microcystis blooms using predatory P. malhamensis.

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source at this point is running out and the glucose concentration is too low to be detected. Error bars represent the standard deviation (n = 3)

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Dr. Binliang Wang and Qingyang Song for hel** with the outdoor control experiment. The authors also thank the National Aquatic Biological Resource Center (NABRC) at the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for providing support.

Funding

This work was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2019YFD0900302), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31772419, No. 31872201, and No. 32002413), the National Key Research and Development Project (No. 2017YFE0125700), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2019M662749), and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Action Project of Hubei Province of China (2018).

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  1. Mingyang Ma and Fuchen Wang equally contributed to the work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Microalgal Biotechnology and Biofuels, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Mingyang Ma, Fuchen Wang, Chaojun Wei, Jian** Chen, Hu **, Hongxia Wang, Qiang Hu & Yingchun Gong

  2. Key Laboratory for Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Mingyang Ma, Fuchen Wang, Chaojun Wei, Jian** Chen, Hu **, Hongxia Wang, Lirong Song, Qiang Hu & Yingchun Gong

  3. Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Mingyang Ma

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100049, China

    Fuchen Wang

  5. Hydrobiological Data Analysis Center, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Chaojun Wei & Qiang Hu

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  1. Mingyang Ma
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Contributions

Mingyang Ma and Fuchen Wang performed the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. Chaojun Wei and Hongxia Wang participated in the outdoor experiment. Jian** Chen and Hu ** participated in the fermentation of P. malhamensis in the 7.5-L bioreactors. Lirong Song provided algal cultures and offered crucial suggestions on the analysis of the results. Qiang Hu and Yingchun Gong contributed to the design of the experiments, the drafting of the paper, and revising it critically. All authors gave approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Yingchun Gong.

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Ma, M., Wang, F., Wei, C. et al. Establishment of high-cell-density heterotrophic cultivation of Poterioochromonas malhamensis contributes to achieving biological control of Microcystis. J Appl Phycol 34, 423–434 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-021-02659-x

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