Marine Biology Commons^™

Multi-Year Molecular Quantification And ‘Omics Analysis Of Planktothrix-Specific Cyanophage Sequences From Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie, Katelyn M. Mckindles, Makayla Manes, Michelle Neudeck, Robert Michael Mckay, George S. Bullerjahn

Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications

Introduction: Planktothrix agardhii is a microcystin-producing cyanobacterium found in Sandusky Bay, a shallow and turbid embayment of Lake Erie. Previous work in other systems has indicated that cyanophages are an important natural control factor of harmful algal blooms. Currently, there are few cyanophages that are known to infect P. agardhii, with the best-known being PaV-LD, a tail-less cyanophage isolated from Lake Donghu, China. Presented here is a molecular characterization of Planktothrix specific cyanophages in Sandusky Bay. Methods and Results: Putative Planktothrix-specific viral sequences from metagenomic data from the bay in 2013, 2018, and 2019 were identified by two approaches: homology …