Marine algal toxins: Biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology

Abstract

Toxic compounds are frequently, but not universally, associated with algal blooms. Several dinoflagellate and diatom species are capable of toxin synthesis. Some bacteria are also capable of synthesizing at least one family of "algal" toxins. Previous work on algal toxins can be broadly grouped in four categories: observations on the variability in toxin production by single species or among strains of a species, frequently as a function of environmental growth conditions; isotope feeding studies to reveal the identity of the substrates that are precursors to the toxin compounds; the genetics of toxin production; and the pharmacological aspects of toxins. Information gleaned from these studies provides a firm foundation for launching more contemporaneous research efforts to understand the biochemistry and molecular biology of toxins. The goals are to develop an understanding of the machinery (i.e. the enzymes and the genes that encode them) required to synthesize toxins, to understand how this machinery is regulated by environmental conditions, and gain insights as to how the toxin biosynthetic genes evolved and(or) have been spread through the marine community. © 1997, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.