Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Oct 1;10(10):402.
doi: 10.3390/toxins10100402.

Extensive Contamination of Water with Saxitoxin Near the Dam of the Irkutsk Hydropower Station Reservoir (East Siberia, Russia)

Mikhail Grachev  1 , Ilya Zubkov  2 , Irina Tikhonova  3 , Maria Ivacheva  4 , Anton Kuzmin  5   6 , Elena Sukhanova  7 , Ekaterina Sorokovikova  8 , Galina Fedorova  9 , Aleksandr Galkin  10 , Maria Suslova  11 , Olga Netsvetayeva  12 , Elena Eletskaya  13 , Tatyana Pogadaeva  14 , Vladimir Smirnov  15 , Andrey Ivanov  16 , Vladimir Shagun  17 , Viktor Minaev  18 , Olga Belykh  19
Affiliations

Extensive Contamination of Water with Saxitoxin Near the Dam of the Irkutsk Hydropower Station Reservoir (East Siberia, Russia)

Mikhail Grachev et al. Toxins (Basel). .

Abstract

An area of discolored water 50 m wide and 30 m long was found in September 2017 close to the dam of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station. Water from this spot was sampled for investigation in the present study. Microscopic analysis revealed that the suspended matter in the sample was composed of clumps of filaments, vegetative cells, akinetes and heterocysts that formed short filaments and solitary cells. This matter was found to consist of partially degraded cells of the cyanobacterium Dolichospermum lemmermannii. Nucleotide sequencing of DNA isolated from the biomass revealed the presence of the sxtA gene which is involved in the synthesis of saxitoxin. Water from the polluted area contained 600 ± 100 μg L-1 saxitoxin as measured by HPLC-MS with pre-column modification of the toxin with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine. Immunoassay analysis (ELISA) showed a concentration of saxitoxins in the water of 2900 ± 900 μg L-1. Hydrochemical and microbiological analyses suggested the contaminated area appeared as a result of a D. lemmermannii bloom, followed by its decay and release of saxitoxin and nutrients. The present paper describes the results of a case study. Better understanding of the phenomenon will depend on the possibility to perform implementation of a large-scale monitoring program.

Keywords: Dolichospermum lemmermannii; ELISA; HPLC-MS; Irkutsk reservoir; Lake Baikal; cyanobacteria; hydrochemical analysis; saxitoxin.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Irkutsk Reservoir and its location relative to Lake Baikal.
Figure 2
Figure 2
General view of Dolichospermum lemmermannii in the sample of water from the Irkutsk Reservoir: (a,с) light microscopy, (b,d) epifluorescence microscopy: (b) DAPI dye, (d) autofluorescence of phicobilins in akinetes. Notations: А—akinetes, Н—heterocysts, V—vegetative cells. Scale: (а)—50 μm, (b–d)—20 μm.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Extracted ion current chromatogram (m/z = 462.15 ± 0.10) of the water sample taken from the polluted area near the dam of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station. Isotopic distribution of saxitoxin-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone is shown in the insert.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mechanism of the reaction resulting in the Z-isomer of saxitoxin-2,4-dinitrophenyl hydrazone as suggested by quantum chemical calculations.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Znamensky V.A., Yanter N.N. Hydrological Behavior of Lakes and Reservoirs of USSR. The Irkutsk Reservoir. Gidrometeoizdat; Leningrad, Russia: 1980. p. 140.
    1. Wacklin P., Hoffmann L., Komarek J. Nomenclatural validation of the genetically revised cyanobacterial genus Dolichospermum (RALFS ex BORNET et FLAHAULT) comb. nova. Fottea J. Czech Phycol. Soc. 2009;9:59–64. doi: 10.5507/fot.2009.005. - DOI
    1. Zapomelova E., Řenakova-Kastovska K., Znachor P., Komarkova J. Morphological diversity of coiled planktonic types of the genus Anabaena (Cyanobacteria) in natural populations—Taxonomic consequences. Cryptogam. Algol. 2007;28:353–371.
    1. Komarek J., Zapomelova Е. Planktic morphospecies of the cyanobacterial genus Anabaena = subg. Dolichospermum-1. part: Coiled types. Fottea: J. Czech Phycol. Soc. 2007;7:1–31. doi: 10.5507/fot.2007.001. - DOI
    1. Kozhova O.M. Distribution of phytoplankton in Lake Baikal. Botanicheskii Zhurnal. 1959;44:808–811.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources