微囊藻廣泛存在於台灣及世界各區水體當中，其所產生之微囊藻毒對於人體具有嚴重危害性，因此了解產毒微囊藻於不同生長時期其相關生理特性及基因表現與毒素變化之情形極為重要。本研究以即時定量聚合酶鏈鎖反應(q-PCR)之TaqMan系統定量總微囊藻(16S rRNA gene)與產毒微囊藻基因(mcyB gene)，並建立反轉錄即時定量鏈鎖聚合酶反應技術分析目標基因表現量之變化；研究中並以酵素免疫分析學法分析微囊藻毒素及顯微鏡鏡檢定量總產毒微囊藻藻數，以探討藻數、毒素、DNA、RNA之關係。
研究結果顯示，藻數濃度分別與總微囊藻(16S rRNA gene)和產毒基因(mcyB gene)具有高度正相關性，而單位細胞目標基因所含copy number於對數中期較高，於遲滯期最低。單位細胞之產毒量隨著培養天數之增加有下降之趨勢，與單位細胞所含產毒基因copy number不具相關性。
針對基因表現量，單位產毒基因表現量與16S rRNA gene表現量大致上隨著培養天數之增加而有遞減之趨勢，但於某一對數時期有增加之情形發生。而單位目標基因表現量與單位細胞之產毒量不具相關性，但總產毒基因表現量則與總毒素增加量具正相關。
本研究亦成功地應用藻類前處理技術將藻體完整保留後，將現地採樣之環境樣本帶回實驗室進行後續分析，於本研究現地採樣之分析結果來看，該水體之產毒微囊藻藻數比例較低，但單位細胞之產毒量卻相當高，大部分均大於WHO之建議值(0.2 pg/cell)。

In this study, q-PCR and reverse transcription q-PCR methods were used to quantify total Microcystis gene (16S rRNA gene) and microcystin producing gene (mcyB gene), and the expression of the two targeted genes, respectively. To understand about the relationships among the Microcystis cell number, gene concentrations, gene expression, and microcystin concentrations, cell enumeration and microcystin were also analyzed using microscope and ELISA methods, respectively.The results of laboratory culture experiments indicated that the concentration of Microcystis cells has high correlation with those of the target genes. Gene copy number per cell was higher during the mid-log phase, and lower during the lag-phase. As grown time increased, microcystin produced on cell quata basis decreased, although no correlation was found between the producing gene copy number and the microcystin cell quata. For gene expression, both target genes expressed decreased as culturing time increased, with a few datum poitns increased during the log-phase. No correlation between gene expression and microcystin cocnentrations was found on cell quata basis. Nevertheless, a positive correlation was found between total gene expression and the net increase of total microcystin cocnentrations. The q-PCR methods were also applied in analysis of the environmental samples collected from Gourd Lake in Tainan. The results show that in the field samples the ratios of toxic Microcystis to total Microcystis were relatively low. However, the microcystin cell quota was quite high, mostly larger than 0.2 pg/cell as suggested by WHO.

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