Microalgae are known to be an indicator group of organisms in the environment. They form blooms when the environment provides them with the necessary nutrients and other factors, such as light. The study of their cysts in the ocean's sediments could sometimes be used to predict future algae blooms and identify the current taxa present in a location. Sediments with different matrices from ten different stations in the Irish coastal waters were sampled and treated with heating and sonication methods to characterize the resting cysts using light microscopy. Molecular approaches, including PCR, Sanger sequencing, and Nanodrop quantifications, were also used to identify and quantify algae DNA in the sediment samples. DNA was extracted using QIAGEN DNeasy Plant Mini and Powersoil Pro kits to compare the efficiency of extraction between the two kits, which were shown to be significantly different from the result. It was also observed that the heating and sonication methods were efficient in isolating cysts from the sediments and that the sediment matrices influenced the efficiency of the treatment methods. The molecular approaches complemented the microscopy observations in this study, highlighting the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in characterizing microalgae cysts from sediments.
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