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A novel portable filtration system for sampling and concentration of microorganisms: demonstration on marine microalgae with subsequent quantification using IC-NASBA

A novel portable filtration system for sampling and concentration of microorganisms: demonstration on marine microalgae with subsequent quantification using IC-NASBA
A novel portable filtration system for sampling and concentration of microorganisms: demonstration on marine microalgae with subsequent quantification using IC-NASBA
This paper presents a novel portable sample filtration/concentration system, designed for use on samples of microorganisms with very low cell concentrations and large volumes, such as water-borne parasites, pathogens associated with fecal matter, or toxic phytoplankton. The example application used for demonstration was the in-field collection and concentration of microalgae from seawater samples. This type of organism is responsible for Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), an example of which is commonly referred to as “red tides”, which are typically the result of rapid proliferation and high biomass accumulation of harmful microalgal species in the water column or at the sea surface. For instance, Karenia brevis red tides are the cause of aquatic organism mortality and persistent blooms may cause widespread die-offs of populations of other organisms including vertebrates. In order to respond to, and adequately manage HABs, monitoring of toxic microalgae is required and large-volume sample concentrators would be a useful tool for in situ monitoring of HABs. The filtering system presented in this work enables consistent sample collection and concentration from 1 L to 1 mL in five minutes, allowing for subsequent benchtop sample extraction and analysis using molecular methods such as NASBA and IC-NASBA. The microalga Tetraselmis suecica was successfully detected at concentrations ranging from 2x105 cells/L to 20 cells/L. Karenia brevis was also detected and quantified at concentrations between 10 cells/L and 106 cells/L. Further analysis showed that the filter system, which concentrates cells from very large volumes with consequently more reliable sampling, produced samples that were more consistent than the independent non-filtered samples (benchtop controls), with a logarithmic dependency on increasing cell numbers. This filtering system provides simple, rapid, and consistent sample collection and concentration for further analysis, and could be applied to a wide range of different samples and target organisms in situations lacking laboratories.
Karenia Brevis, Tetraselmis Suecica, Filtering system, Concentrator, NASBA, Quantification
1568-9883
94-104
Loukas, Christos-Moritz
cda31664-e0d8-46d9-b9d2-162484c18baf
Mowlem, Matthew C.
6f633ca2-298f-48ee-a025-ce52dd62124f
Tsaloglou, Maria-Nefeli
99ab30ba-15da-4d25-86ba-608d127f8369
Green, Nicolas G.
d9b47269-c426-41fd-a41d-5f4579faa581
Loukas, Christos-Moritz
cda31664-e0d8-46d9-b9d2-162484c18baf
Mowlem, Matthew C.
6f633ca2-298f-48ee-a025-ce52dd62124f
Tsaloglou, Maria-Nefeli
99ab30ba-15da-4d25-86ba-608d127f8369
Green, Nicolas G.
d9b47269-c426-41fd-a41d-5f4579faa581

Loukas, Christos-Moritz, Mowlem, Matthew C., Tsaloglou, Maria-Nefeli and Green, Nicolas G. (2018) A novel portable filtration system for sampling and concentration of microorganisms: demonstration on marine microalgae with subsequent quantification using IC-NASBA. Harmful Algae, 75, 94-104. (doi:10.1016/j.hal.2018.03.006).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper presents a novel portable sample filtration/concentration system, designed for use on samples of microorganisms with very low cell concentrations and large volumes, such as water-borne parasites, pathogens associated with fecal matter, or toxic phytoplankton. The example application used for demonstration was the in-field collection and concentration of microalgae from seawater samples. This type of organism is responsible for Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), an example of which is commonly referred to as “red tides”, which are typically the result of rapid proliferation and high biomass accumulation of harmful microalgal species in the water column or at the sea surface. For instance, Karenia brevis red tides are the cause of aquatic organism mortality and persistent blooms may cause widespread die-offs of populations of other organisms including vertebrates. In order to respond to, and adequately manage HABs, monitoring of toxic microalgae is required and large-volume sample concentrators would be a useful tool for in situ monitoring of HABs. The filtering system presented in this work enables consistent sample collection and concentration from 1 L to 1 mL in five minutes, allowing for subsequent benchtop sample extraction and analysis using molecular methods such as NASBA and IC-NASBA. The microalga Tetraselmis suecica was successfully detected at concentrations ranging from 2x105 cells/L to 20 cells/L. Karenia brevis was also detected and quantified at concentrations between 10 cells/L and 106 cells/L. Further analysis showed that the filter system, which concentrates cells from very large volumes with consequently more reliable sampling, produced samples that were more consistent than the independent non-filtered samples (benchtop controls), with a logarithmic dependency on increasing cell numbers. This filtering system provides simple, rapid, and consistent sample collection and concentration for further analysis, and could be applied to a wide range of different samples and target organisms in situations lacking laboratories.

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HARALG-D-18-00052R1 - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 24 March 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 25 April 2018
Published date: May 2018
Keywords: Karenia Brevis, Tetraselmis Suecica, Filtering system, Concentrator, NASBA, Quantification

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 420967
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/420967
ISSN: 1568-9883
PURE UUID: 3962f9cb-9c65-463d-99d7-cc12cb41b70b
ORCID for Matthew C. Mowlem: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7613-6121
ORCID for Nicolas G. Green: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9230-4455

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Date deposited: 18 May 2018 16:31
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 06:20

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Contributors

Author: Christos-Moritz Loukas
Author: Matthew C. Mowlem ORCID iD
Author: Maria-Nefeli Tsaloglou
Author: Nicolas G. Green ORCID iD

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