Cyanobacteria Aphanizomenon population is widely distributed in the world, and well known as harmful algae by producing toxins and off-flavor materials, thus belonging to one of the taxa that became more interested in the field of limnoecology. In this study, the frequency, intensity, and duration of Aphanizomenon occurrence were increased with the abnormal drawdown of water level in the winter in Boryeong Reservoir, and the spatial and temporal characteristics of them are compared with each other in the perspective of hydrometeorology (1998 to 2017) and limnology (2010 to 2017). In Korea, Aphanizomenon flourished mainly in high temperature, and the appearance in the low temperature was rare in total five times. The harmful cyanobacteria Aphanizomenon was observed in the low temperature (December to February) in Boryeong Reservoir from 2014, and then reached a maximum value of 2,160 cells mL-1 in January 2017. In addition, the period exceeding 1,000 cells mL-1 at this time was more than 3 months. This was simultaneously associated with abnormal water level fluctuation in the low temperature (<10℃). The large drawdown of water level in the winter season has the potential to promote or amplify the germination and development of harmful algae. Also, subsequent water quality and ecological impacts (e.g., algal toxins and off-flavor substances) need to be considered carefully.

The identity of toxin producers remains only hypothesis unless there were identified by strain isolation and analytical confirmation of both the cyanotoxin production and the genetic identity of the monoculture. The purposes of this study were to identify a morphologic and phylogenetic classification in Aphanizomenon flos-aquae strains isolated from the Nakdong River and to investigate the potential ability of the strains to produce toxins such as saxitoxin and cylindrospermopsin using target genes. The 16S rRNA and sxtA, sxtI, cyrA, cyrJ genes were analyzed on two strains (DGUC001, DGUC003) isolated from the Nakdong River. Morphological features of the strains were observed a shape of aggregated trichomes in parallel fascicles which can reach up to macroscopic size and a hyaline terminal cell without aerotope. In addition, the 16S rRNA phylogenetic analyses showed that the strains were identified as the same species with high genetic similarity of 98.4% and grouped within a monospecific andsupported cluster I of Aphanizomenon flosaquae selected from GenBank of the NCBI. The cyrA and cyrJ genes encoding for the cylindrospermopsinbiosynthesis were not detected in the present study. The sxtA gene was in detected both the two strains, whereas the sxtI gene which had been suggested as a suitable molecular marker to detect saxitoxin-producing cyanobacteria was not found both the strains. Thus, the two strains isolated from Nakdong River were identified as the same species of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae Ralfs ex Bornet et Flahault 1888, the two strains were confirmed as potential non-producing strains of the saxitoxin and cylindrospermopsin.

Aphanizomenon flos-aquae는 시아노박테리아 일종이며 anatoxin-a, saxitoxin, neosaxitoxin 등의 독소를 생산할 수 있어 국내에서는 식품원료로 사용이 금지되어있다. 전통적으로 시아노박테리아는 사상체 넓이, 세포 크기, 분열방법, 세포형태, 가스주머니의 존재유무 등의 형태학적 특징에 의한 분류가 가능하다. 그러나 가스주머니 혹은 무성 포자와 같은 특징은 주변 환경 또는 생장조건에 따라 차이가 있으며 경우에 따라 소실되기도 한다. 따라서 PCR에 의한 Aph. flos-aquae를 함유하는 기능식품을 검출할 수 있는 분석법을 개발하였다. 프라이머를 설계하기 위하여 유전자은행(www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)에 등록되어있는 Aph. flos-aquae, 스피루리나의 16S rRNA 염기서열을 이용하였으며, 비교 및 분석에는 BioEdit ver. 7.0.9.0 프로그램을 사용하였다. 최종적으로 클로렐라, 스피루리나, 녹차, 시금치로부터 Aph. flos-aquae를 검출할 수 있는 AFA-F1/AFAR1 (363 bp) 프라이머를 최종 선정하였다. 그리고 상기 프라이머는 Aph. flos-aquae가 각각 1% 함유 되도록 제조된 클로렐라, 스피루리나 제품에서 모두 혼입여부의 확인이 가능함을 확인하였다.