Developing mass spectrometry tools to detect blue-green algae and characterise its efficient photosynthetic machines.

Blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, are ubiquitous on planet Earth. As the oldest organisms on the planet, cyanobacteria have been evolving for billions of years. First, the project investigated into how cyanobacteria's photosynthetic machinery has evolved to be efficient despite the different environmental pressures it has faced across history. Next, the project investigated the composition of cyanobacteria's photosynthetic machinery to determine how it can change in response to different wavelengths of light and light intensity. Finally, mass spectrometry tools were developed to detect specific cyanobacterial strains within lake water. Cyanobacteria are beneficial to the environment due to the large amount of carbon dioxide they can absorb through use of their photosynthetic machinery; however, certain cyanobacterial strains can also produce toxins, creating large environmental hazards. The mass spectrometry tools developed within the project were able to detect and distinguish between toxin and non-toxin producing strains at extremely low levels which will have a large impact on cyanobacterial monitoring in water sources.