Polysaccharide biosynthesis-related genes explain phenotype-genotype correlation of Microcystis colonies in Meiliang Bay of Lake Taihu, China

The 16S rDNA, 16S-23S rDNA-ITS, cpcBA-IGS, mcy gene and several polysaccharide biosynthesis-related genes (epsL and TagH) were analyzed along with the identification of the morphology of Microcystis colonies collected in Lake Taihu in 2014. M. wesenbergii colonies could be distinguished directly from other colonies using espL. TagH divided all of the samples into two clusters but failed to distinguish different phenotypes. Our results indicated that neither morphology nor molecular tools including 16S rDNA, 16S-23S ITS and cpcBA-IGS could distinguish toxic and non-toxic species among the identified Microcystis species. No obvious relationship was detected between the phenotypes of Microcystis and their genotypes using 16S, 16S-23S and cpcBA-IGS, but polysaccharide biosynthesis-related genes may distinguish the Microcystis phenotypes. Furthermore, the sequences of the polysaccharide biosynthesis-related genes (espL and TagH) extracted from Microcystis scums collected throughout 2015 was analyzed. Samples dominated by M. ichthyoblabe (60–100%) and M. wesenbergii (60–100%) were divided into different clade by both espL and TagH, respectively. Therefore, it was confirmed that M. wesenbergii and M. ichthyoblabe could be distinguished by the polysaccharide biosynthesis-related genes (espL and TagH). This study is of great significance in filling the gap between classification of molecular biology and the morphological taxonomy of Microcystis.