Comparison of four methods for the extraction of lipopolysaccharide from cyanobacteria |
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| Authors: | J. Lindsay J.S. Metcalf G.A. Codd |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Division of Molecular and Environmental Microbiology , College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee , Dundee , UK j.lindsay@qub.ac.uk;3. Division of Molecular and Environmental Microbiology , College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee , Dundee , UK |
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| Abstract: | Four procedures were compared for the extraction of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from 10 laboratory strains of cyanobacteria. LPS yields as a percentage of cyanobacterial dry weight ranged from 0.03 to 6.13. The heterotrophic bacterial LPS marker 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonoic (KDO) acid was not detectable in any of the cyanobacterial LPS preparations. All methods yielded LPS that contained biologically- and toxicologically-significant quantities of the cyanotoxin microcystin, when applied to some, but not all, microcystin-producing cyanobacterial strains. Of the four methods used, a procedure including Proteinase K, plus RNase and DNase, performed best overall on the basis of minimum time required, higher percentage yields of LPS, and minimal co-extraction of microcystin. |
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| Keywords: | cyanobacteria endotoxin lipopolysaccharide LPS microcystin |
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