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V.$LÓPEZ$RODAS$y"col.$

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other! Microcystis! species! (i.e.! M.! viridis,! M.! wesenbergii,! M.! floos?aquae,! with!
scarce! occurrence! in! Spain)! as! well! as! other! countless! unstudied! M.! aeruginosa!
strains! from! American,! Australian,! Asia! and! Africa.! Consequently,! more! work! is!
necessary,!mainly!analyzing!many!Microcystis!samples!from!different!geographical!
origin! to! assure! that! lectins! are! a! single! procedure! that! can! universally!
differentiate!toxic!and!non?toxic!Microcystis!cells.!Finally,!these!results!could!lead!
to!affirm!that!lectin?labeling!seems!to!be!a!hopeful!method!for!the!aforementioned!
procedures.!

!

!
Figure$ 2.B! Lectin! binding! activity! observed! using! ! epi?fluorescence! microscopy.! Positive! colonies!
for!lectin!binding!showed!intense!green!fluorescence!on!the!cell!surface!(thin!arrows),!as!well!as!on!
the!inter?cellular!matrix!(wide!arrow).!

!
From! an! ecological! point! of! view,! it! has! been! showed! that! lectin?binding!
pattern! confirms! that! each! M)aeruginosa! bloom! is! composed! by! different! strains.!
Toxic! and! non?toxic! strains! occur! together! in! the! same! bloom.! The! blooms! with!
less! amount! of! microcystin! show! high! percentage! of! non?toxic! M.) aeruginosa!
colonies!positively!labelled!by!UEA?1!lectin.!In!contrast,!the!blooms!with!a!greater!
more! quantity! of! microcystin! show! a! low! percentage! of! non?toxic! M.) aeruginosa!
colonies.! As! such,! lectins! seem! to! be! useful! tools! for! analysing! changes! in! the!
density! of! toxic! and! non?toxic! colonies! over! time! during! the! developmental,!
stationary!phase!and!collapse!within!the!same!bloom.!

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