Benthic cyanobacteria from aquatic environments have been reported to produce biologically active metabolites. However, the toxicity and other
biological activities of benthic cyanobacteria from the Baltic Sea are not well known. We determined the
biological activities of 21 Anabaena, Calothrix, Nodularia, Nostoc, and Phormidium strains isolated from benthic littoral habitats of the Baltic Sea. We studied whether benthic cyanobacterial extracts caused cytotoxicity by
necrosis or induced apoptosis in two mammalian cell lines, a human
leukemia cell line (HL-60) and a mouse fibroblast cell line (3T3 Swiss), and examined potential hepatotoxin (
microcystin and
nodularin) production. Five of the six benthic Anabaena strains, one of the two Nostoc strains, and two of the three Nodularia strains were highly cytotoxic to human
leukemia cells. The Calothrix and Phormidium strains did not cause LDH leakage, but the extract of Phormidium strain BECID15 induced apoptosis in the HL-60 cells. Neither the
microcystin synthetase E (mcyE) nor the
nodularin synthetase F (ndaF) gene was amplified by PCR, and no
microcystins or nodularins were detected by the
protein phosphatase inhibition assay from the cyanobacterial strains included in this study. This indicates that benthic Baltic cyanobacteria contain potentially harmful cytotoxic compounds even though they do not produce
microcystins or nodularins. These cytotoxic compounds remain to be characterized, and the mechanisms of cytotoxicity need to be studied further.