Molecular ecology researchersuse genetic analyser and sequence detection to investigate biosynthetic and regulatory genes producing the toxic compounds, which wreak havoc on aquatic ecosystems
Chemical ecologists at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany, are using the Applied Biosystems 4000 Q Trap LC/MS/MS system and API 2000 LC/MS/MS system to analyse biotoxins produced by marine phytoplankton and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae).
The molecular ecology researchers in the group are also using an Applied Biosystems 3130xl genetic analyser and ABI Prism 7000 sequence detection system to investigate the biosynthetic and regulatory genes involved in producing the toxic compounds, which wreak havoc on aquatic ecosystems around the world, damaging fish populations, poisoning marine mammals and seabirds, contaminating drinking water and rendering shellfish too toxic for human consumption.
Professor Allan Cembella, group leader and head of the biological sciences division at the Institute and Professor in the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Bremen, explained: "The toxins are very potent but the amounts produced are tiny - the concentration per cell is generally in the picogram to femtogram range.
"Using the 4000 Q Trap system combined with innovative liquid chromatography, we can separate an extremely complex cocktail of more than two dozen derivatives of at least five different classes of marine biotoxins in a single chromatographic run.
"Importantly for us, after extensive comparative testing with both seawater and algal matrices, we have found that the sensitivity of the 4000 Q Trap system is at least 50 times better than other available instruments for the toxic compounds that interest us.
"There are many hypotheses concerning the function of these toxins and we are still in the process of evaluating them.
"Future work will undoubtedly involve the integration of mass spectrometry and sequencing facilities for identifying the regulatory genes involved in their biosynthesis and metabolism, in cultures and natural phytoplankton populations."
