Subpoblaciones quimiotípicas en cianobacterias planctónicas. Ecología y aplicación en herramientas avanzadas de monitorización

Abstract

Cyanobacterial blooms are an increasingly concerning issue due to the ability of some taxa to produce potent toxins. While such toxins have been under the spotlight of cyanobacterial research over the last decades, the gradual discovery of a wide array of other bioactive oligopeptides and their patchy distribution in natural populations has recently prompted the delimitation of chemotypical subpopulations below the species level. Cyanobacterial oligopeptide chemotypes are found to coexist in natural systems and may therefore constitute relevant units to approach the study of the complex ecology of planktonic cyanobacteria. The studies presented in this Dissertation evaluate oligopeptide fingerprints as stable markers of chemotypes, demonstrate that chemotypical subpopulations in natural systems display different ecological traits, and exemplify how the inclusion of chemotypical analysis in advanced monitoring strategies can substantially reduce the uncertainties in the assessment of the risks associated to bloom events. As a corollary of this Thesis, a coherent scenario regarding the biological role of oligopeptides is proposed, as well as evolutionary mechanisms capable of explaining the subdivision of cyanobacterial populations into distinct chemotypes Keywords: Cyanobacteria, Oligopeptides, Chemotypes, Planktonic, Microcystis, MALDI TOF, Limnology, Reservoir, Monitoring, Toxin, Cyanotoxin