Elucidation of mechanism for the non-toxic mutation of the paralytic shellfish toxin producing dinoflagellates by integrated omics analysis

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24580295
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Fisheries chemistry
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: CHO Yuko 東北大学, (連合)農学研究科(研究院), 助教 (60323086)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HIDEMA Shizu 東北大学, 大学院農学研究科, 助教 (30241558)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KONOKI Keiichi 東北大学, 大学院農学研究科, 准教授 (40292825)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 麻痺性貝毒 / 無毒化 / 生合成 / Alexandrium tamarense / 渦鞭毛藻 / 生合成遺伝子 / 中間体 / LC-MS

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Alexandrium tamarense is one of the most popular marine dinoflagellates, which are causative for the paralytic shellfish poisoning in Japan. The metabolomics study on the toxic and non-toxic sub-clones of the dinoflagellate, A. tamarense, revealed that the putative intermediates of saxitoxin biosynthesis were not found in the non-toxic subclone. The low reactivity at the first stage was expected to be responsible for the loss of toxicity. The molecularbiological study using the toxic and non-toxic sub-clones was conducted on the basis of this hypothesis. SxtA4 gene, which is the putative saxitoxin biosynthesis gene assigned at the first stage, was observed in the genome and mRNA of the non-toxic sub-clone, however, they included mutation and its expression in the mRNA of the non-toxic sub-clone was extremely lower than that of the toxic sub-clone. The loss of toxicity was suggested to be related to the difference of sxtA4 gene.

Free Research Field

天然物化学