Water Quality, Toxicity and Diversity of Planktonic and Benthic Cyanobacteria in Pristine Ancient Lake Khubsugul (Hövsgöl), Mongolia

For the first time, microcystin-producing cyanobacteria have been detected in Khubsugul, which is ancient, pristine and one of the world’s largest lakes. The microcystin synthetase genes belonged to the genera Nostoc, Microcystis and possibly Snowella spp. No microcystins were found in the water of the lake. Using the HPLC-HRMS/TOF, five microcystin congeners were identified in biofilms from stony substrates sampled in the coastal zone. The concentration of microcystins in biofilms was low: 41.95 µg g(−1) d. wt. by ELISA and 55.8 µg g(−1) d. wt. using HPLC. The taxonomic composition of planktonic and benthic cyanobacterial communities was determined by means of microscopy and high-throughput sequencing of 16S rDNA amplicons. Nostocales cyanobacteria dominated benthos of Lake Khubsugul and Synechococcales—plankton. The abundance of cyanobacteria was low both in plankton and benthos; there was no mass development of cyanobacteria. Hydrochemical and microbiological analyses showed that the water in the lake was clean; the number of faecal microorganisms was significantly below the acceptable guideline values. Hydrochemical and hydrophysical parameters, and the concentration of chlorophyll a, were low and within the range of values recorded in the 1970s to 1990s, and corresponded to the oligotrophic state of the lake. There were no signs of anthropogenic eutrophication of the lake and no conditions for the cyanobacterial blooms.