A procedure to purify and culture a clonal strain of the aquatic moss Fontinalis antipyretica for use as a bioindicator of heavy metals.

A procedure to culture the aquatic moss, Fontinalis antipyretica, is described. The moss was collected in a stream, carried to the laboratory, and immediately treated: apices were isolated and rinsed under a stereomicroscope and submitted to ultrasonic cleaning combined with an iodine treatment and then to an antibiotic/anti-eukaryotic treatment for 4 days. This procedure permitted us for the first time to eliminate the microalgae associated with an aquatic moss in culture, solving the problem of proliferation of these microalgae in the culture medium. Furthermore, the minimal concentration of eight essential metals required by this moss was determined in order to have metal concentrations in the cultured moss as low as possible. A perennial culture of a clonal strain of an aquatic moss for use as a metal bioaccumulator was obtained and the first step to provide a standardized bioindication tool for metal detection in continental waters was passed over.