Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026
Early Detection of Cyanobacterial Blooms and Associated Cyanotoxins using Fast Detection Strategy
Published on: February 25, 2021
Comparative study of three analysis methods (TTGE, flow cytometry and HPLC) for xenobiotic impact assessment on
Sabine Stachowski-Haberkorn1, Louis Quiniou, Beatriz Beker
1Université Européenne de Bretagne, LUBEM (EA3882), UBO, 6 Rue de l'Université, 29334 Quimper, France. sabine.stachowski.haberkorn@ifremer.fr
Abstract:
The impacts of the fungicide Opus (epoxiconazole) on marine phytoplankton communities were assessed in a 12-day field experiment using in situ microcosms maintained underwater at 6 m depth. Three community analysis methods were compared for their sensitivity threshold in fungicide impact detection. When phytoplankton communities were exposed to 1 microg l(-1) of epoxiconazole, no effects could be demonstrated using TTGE (Temporal Temperature Gradient gel Electrophoresis), flow cytometry or HPLC. When exposed to 10 microg l(-1), TTGE fingerprints from PCR amplified 18S rDNA of communities exhibited significant differences compared with controls (ANOSIM, P = 0.028). Neither flow cytometry counts, nor HPLC pigment profiles allowed to show significant differences in microcosms exposed to 10 microg l(-1) of epoxiconazole. When exposed to 100 microg l(-1), all three methods allowed to detect significant differences in treated microcosms, as compared to controls. The TTGE analysis appears in this study as the most sensitive method for fungicide impact assessment on eukaryote microbial communities.
