Toxic cyanobacteria: the evolving molecular toolbox

Toxic cyanobacteria are a diverse and widely distributed group of organisms that can contaminate natural and man-made bodies of water. Anthropogenic eutrophication can exacerbate the risks, allowing toxic cyanobacteria to grow unchecked and resulting in harmful algal blooms with potentially serious economic and health-related impacts. Predicting bloom events is an important goal of monitoring programs and is of fundamental interest to those examining the ecology of aquatic ecosystems. While microscopic identification and toxin analysis have traditionally been employed for monitoring purposes, molecular biological methods may provide rapid and sensitive diagnoses for the presence of toxic and toxigenic cyanobacteria, and are useful for general ecological studies. The molecular toolbox of ecologists and resource managers is evolving rapidly. Current techniques and their applications will help bring about a better understanding of the ecology of these events.