Testing a Microarray to Detect and Monitor Toxic Microalgae in Arcachon Bay in France

doi:10.3390/microarrays2010001

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Microarrays 2013, 2(1), 1-23; doi:10.3390/microarrays2010001

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Testing a Microarray to Detect and Monitor Toxic Microalgae in Arcachon Bay in France

Jessica U. Kegel^1,* , Yolanda Del Amo², Laurence Costes² and Linda K. Medlin^1,*

¹ Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB, UK ² Université Bordeaux 1, UMR CNRS EPOC 5805, Station Marine d'Arcachon, 2 rue du Prof. Jolyet F 33120 Arcachon, France

* Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 27 November 2012; in revised form: 24 January 2013 / Accepted: 26 February 2013 / Published: 5 March 2013

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers)

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Abstract: Harmful algal blooms (HABs) occur worldwide, causing health problems and economic damages to fisheries and tourism. Monitoring agencies are therefore essential, yet monitoring is based only on time-consuming light microscopy, a level at which a correct identification can be limited by insufficient morphological characters. The project MIDTAL (Microarray Detection of Toxic Algae)—an FP7-funded EU project—used rRNA genes (SSU and LSU) as a target on microarrays to identify toxic species. Furthermore, toxins were detected with a newly developed multiplex optical Surface Plasmon Resonance biosensor (Multi SPR) and compared with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In this study, we demonstrate the latest generation of MIDTAL microarrays (version 3) and show the correlation between cell counts, detected toxin and microarray signals from field samples taken in Arcachon Bay in France in 2011. The MIDTAL microarray always detected more potentially toxic species than those detected by microscopic counts. The toxin detection was even more sensitive than both methods. Because of the universal nature of both toxin and species microarrays, they can be used to detect invasive species. Nevertheless, the MIDTAL microarray is not completely universal: first, because not all toxic species are on the chip, and second, because invasive species, such as Ostreopsis, already influence European coasts.

Keywords: oligonucleotide microarrays; molecular monitoring; harmful algal blooms; HABs; toxic microalgae; 18S/28S ribosomal RNA; LSU/SSU; RNA hybridization; environmental water samples

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Kegel, J.U.; Del Amo, Y.; Costes, L.; Medlin, L.K. Testing a Microarray to Detect and Monitor Toxic Microalgae in Arcachon Bay in France. Microarrays 2013, 2, 1-23.

AMA Style

Kegel JU, Del Amo Y, Costes L, Medlin LK. Testing a Microarray to Detect and Monitor Toxic Microalgae in Arcachon Bay in France. Microarrays. 2013; 2(1):1-23.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kegel, Jessica U.; Del Amo, Yolanda; Costes, Laurence; Medlin, Linda K. 2013. "Testing a Microarray to Detect and Monitor Toxic Microalgae in Arcachon Bay in France." Microarrays 2, no. 1: 1-23.

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