Isolation and purification of Australian isolates of the toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa Kutz.

Isolation and laboratory culture of Microcystis aeruginosa Kutz. using a growth medium (MLA medium) suitable for both non-axenic and axenic cultures is described. Seventeen established strains of M. aeruginosa were subjected to one or more of three purification methods: centrifugation cleaning, sulphide gradient selection, and antibiotic treatment (Imipenem(R)). While each method purified only about half of the strains attempted, the selective application of each method, based on the morphological characteristics of the strains, succeeded in purifying 12 of the 17 strains. Three of the 5 strains not purified were contaminated with a sulphide-tolerant, Imipenem-resistant spirochaete, Spirochaeta cf. aurantia, which could not be detected on normal, broad spectrum bacterial test media. The presence of this bacterial species was detected only by phase contrast and DAPI (4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) stained fluorescence microscopy.