Microbially Derived Off-Flavor from Geosmin and 2-Methylisoborneol: Sources and Remediation - Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology - page 8

these species also produce toxins (Jardine et al. 1999). Most of the cyanobacteria
that produce toxins are planktonic; however, microcystin-producing benthic cyano-
bacteria have also been reported (Izaguirre et al. 2007), which have been character-
ized by 16S rRNA technique. Off-flavors other than musty and earthy in catfish are
woody and pine and have been attributed to the presence of unspecific cyanobacteria
(van der Ploeg 1991).
Izaguirre and Taylor (2004) observed, in drinking water supplies in the U.S., that
known geosmin-and MIB-producing cyanobacteria belong to genera such as
Anabaena , Oscillatoria , Phormidium , Lyngbya , Leptolyngbya , Microcoleus , Nostoc ,
Planktothrix , Pseudanabaena , Hyella , and Synechococcus (see Tables 2-4). Many
MIB- and geosmin-producing Oscillatoria strains have been isolated from water
supplies in California (Izaguirre et al. 1982).
Cultures of two Oscillatoria strains isolated from drinking water reservoirs in
California produced 60-150

g/L MIB (Izaguirre et al. 1982). Cultures of O. gemi-
nata and O. limnetica isolated from a fish cultivation pond and a park pond in the
Tokyo area produced 550 and 240

µ

g/L MIB, respectively (Matsumoto and
Tsuchiya 1988). Phormidium tenue , a major cause of MIB episodes in Lake Biwa
(Yagi et al. 1983) and Lake Kasumigaura, Japan (Sugiura et al. 1986, 1998), pro-
duced 120

µ

g/L MIB in culture (Negoro et al. 1988). O. limnetica is considered
synonymous with Pseudanabaena limnetica (Anagnostidis and Komárek 1988;
Baker 1992). Two MIB-producing (240-260

µ

g/L) cyanobacteria, Lyngbya strains,
were isolated from a major aqueduct system in California (Izaguirre and Taylor
1995). Lyngbya was a comparatively strong MIB-producing species relative to
other MIB producers (Martin et al. 1991; Izaguirre 1992).
Planktonic and benthic species synthesize both compounds, geosmin and MIB
(see Tables 2-4). The first planktonic MIB producers were reported in Japan (Yagi
et al. 1983; Negoro et al. 1988) and later in Australia (Baker et al. 1994). The first
major planktonic MIB producer isolated in the U.S. was the planktonic Oscillatoria
( Planktothrix ) from a catfish pond in Mississippi (Martin et al. 1991). Some new
strains of Pseudanabaena species isolated from Castic Lake, California, repre-
sented the major planktonic MIB producers isolated from drinking water in the U.S.
(Izaguirre and Taylor 1998).
Izaguirre and Taylor (2004) noted that some MIB-producing cyanobacteria iso-
lated in the U.S. have morphological analogues in other parts of the world. MIB-
producing Planktothrix sp. (originally called Oscillatoria ) isolated from a catfish
pond in Mississippi (Martin et al. 1991; van der Ploeg et al. 1995) appears indistin-
guishable from an MIB-producing Planktothrix species in Australia (Baker 1992),
and may also be related to an Oscillatoria cf. raciborskii reported in Japan (Hosaka
et al. 1995), and possibly also to the O. tenuis reported by Negoro et al. (1988). The
other example is MIB-producing Pseudanabaena (Izaguirre and Taylor 1998;
Izaguirre et al. 1999), some strains of which are morphologically similar to the MIB
producer Phormidium tenue in Japan, reported by Yagi et al. (1983). Izaguirre and
Taylor (2004) observed that Pseudanabaena strains isolated in the U.S. may also be
related to the MIB-producing strain of Oscillatoria limnetica reported by Matsumoto
and Tsuchiya (1988), as this species is considered synonymous with Pseudanabaena
limnetica by Anagnostidis and Komárek (1988) and Baker (1992).

µ