Spatio-temporal patterns of Synechococcus oligotypes in Moroccan lagoonal environments.

Synechococcus are unicellular cyanobacteria susceptible to environmental fluctuations and can be used as bioindicators of eutrophication in marine ecosystems. We examined their distribution in two Moroccan lagoons, Marchica on the Mediterranean coast and Oualidia on the Atlantic, in the summers of 2014 and 2015 using 16S rRNA amplicon oligotyping. Synechococcus representatives recruited a higher number of reads from the 16S rRNA in Marchica in comparison to Oualidia. We identified 31 Synechococcus oligotypes that clustered into 10 clades with different distribution patterns. The Synechococcus community was mainly represented by oligotype 1 (clade III) in Marchica. Cooccurring clades IV and I had an important relative abundance in Marchica in the summer of 2014, which is unusual, as these clades are widespread in cold waters. Moreover, Clades VII and subcluster "5.3" formed a sizeable percentage of the Synechococcus community in Marchica. Notably, we found low Synechococcus sequence counts in the Atlantic Lagoon. These results showed that the relative abundance of Synechococcus reads is not constant over space and time and that rare members of the Synechococcus community did not follow a consistent pattern. Further studies are required to decipher Synechococcus dynamics and the impact of environmental parameters on their spatial and temporal distributions.

A review on current diagnostic techniques for COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION: SARS-Cov-2 first appeared in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and spread all over the world soon after that. Given the infectious nature ofSARS-CoV-2, fast and accurate diagnosis tools are important to detect the virus. In this review, we discuss the different diagnostic tests that are currently being implemented in laboratories and provide a description of various COVID-19 kits. AREAS COVERED: We summarize molecular techniques that target the viral load, serological methods used for SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies detection as well as newly developed faster assays for the detection of SARS-COV 2 in various biological samples. EXPERT OPINION: In the light of the widespread pandemic, the massive diagnosis of COVID-19, using various detection techniques, appears to be the most effective strategy for monitoring and containing its propagation.