Advances in Research on Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 627

Special Issue Editors

Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China
Interests: urban water supply safety; harmful algal blooms; cyanotoxins; water treatment technologies

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Guest Editor
Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Interests: plant biology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cyanobacteria are oxygen-producing bacteria, originating around 3 billion years ago. Cyanobacteria can form dense blooms in freshwater, with the most common bloom-forming genera including Microcystis, Aphanizomenon, Cylindrospermopsis, Dolichospermum, Nodularia, Planktothrix. Cyanobacterial blooms can cause major problems for water quality, producing undesirable metabolites, such as taste and odour compounds, cyanotoxins, and algal organic matter. They therefore interfere with the recreational functions of lakes and the use of reservoirs for drinking water. Cyanotoxins can cause liver, digestive, and neurological diseases when ingested by birds, mammals, and humans. Among these cyanotoxins, microcystin is the most commonly reported, and World Health Organization has set a lifetime guideline value of 1 μg/L for microcystin-LR in drinking water. Global warming and eutrophication lead to frequent outbreaks of toxic cyanobacterial blooms, and the threat they pose to water safety and human health cannot be ignored. Despite increasing research in this field, a better understanding of the diversity, physiology, ecology, and toxicology of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins and innovative strategies and techniques to combat them is still urgently needed. This Special Issue aims to bring together scientists to share their scientific findings about cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins and their impact worldwide.

Dr. Xi Li
Dr. Martin A. Stefanov
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • cyanobacteria
  • cyanotoxins
  • water safety

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1823 KB  
Article
Assessment System and Optimization of the Thermal Extraction Methods for Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) from Microcystis
by Yafei Cui, Sheng Zhang, Pengbo Zhao, Jingyuan Cui, Shuwei Song, Yao Qu, Haiping Zhang and Dong Ma
Microorganisms 2026, 14(1), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms14010116 - 5 Jan 2026
Viewed by 445
Abstract
Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play crucial roles in the growth and survival of microorganisms. However, the lack of effective evaluation for extraction methods has limited further investigations and applications of EPS. This study established a quantitative assessment system for algal EPS thermal extraction [...] Read more.
Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play crucial roles in the growth and survival of microorganisms. However, the lack of effective evaluation for extraction methods has limited further investigations and applications of EPS. This study established a quantitative assessment system for algal EPS thermal extraction methods based on extraction yield, cell integrity, and EPS chemical properties. An extraction efficiency parameter (ε) was introduced to quantify the relationship between EPS yield and cell rupture. Thermal treatment proved to be an effective approach for algal EPS extraction. Using the proposed evaluation system, the extraction methods for EPS of Microcystis were compared and optimized, including the following treatments: NaOH, NaCl, and buffer solutions (borate, phosphate, Tris-HCl). The results demonstrated that heating at 55 °C for 30 min with borate buffer achieved the highest extraction efficiency for EPS, with an ε value of 11.06 ± 1.13. In contrast, NaOH treatment at 60 °C for 30 min resulted in 30.4% cell rupture and the lowest ε value (9.7 ± 0.81). Furthermore, the modeled cell rupture rates aligned with flow cytometry and three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy analyses. The EPS extraction evaluation system developed in this study was empirically validated as a robust tool for optimizing extraction protocols for algal EPS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research on Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins)
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