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Marine Drugs
Special Issues
Marine Biotoxins 3.0
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Marine Biotoxins 3.0

A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Toxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 6252

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Jordi Molgó

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CEA, INRAE, Institut des Sciences du Vivant Frédéric Joliot, Département Médicaments et Technologies pour la Santé (DMTS), Equipe Mixte de Recherche CNRS n° 9004, Service d’Ingénierie Moléculaire pour la Santé (SIMoS), Université Paris-Saclay, Bâtiment 152, rue de la Biologie, Point courrier 24, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette, France
Interests: natural toxins from marine and terrestrial organisms; voltage-gated ion channels; ligand gated channels; nicotinic acetylcholine receptors; cholinesterases; IP3 receptors; cell signaling; synaptic transmission; neuromuscular transmission; transmitter release
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In this new Special Issue of “Marine Biotoxins 3.0”, we welcome manuscripts dealing with microorganisms involved in the production of marine biotoxins (bacteria, cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, diatoms, and fungi), the environmental factors favoring their proliferation, and their vectorial transfer through the marine food web. The transfer of marine biotoxins to invertebrates, fish, birds, and marine mammals constitutes a menace for wildlife. Some marine biotoxins definitely constitute a threat for human consumers of contaminated shellfish and fish, and regulatory limits need to be evaluated and discussed in order to set risk factors. Most marine biotoxins belong to different families of organic molecules, with diverse and rich chemical structures, and new biotoxins are described every year. The cellular targets on which marine biotoxins may act are numerous and include (i) ion channels (voltage-gated Na+, K+, or Ca2+ channels); (ii) ionotropic receptors or ligand-gated channels—such as glutamate receptors (AMPA, Kainate, and NMDA receptors), nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, serotonin 3 (5HT3) receptors, and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABAA receptors); (iii) metabotropic receptors, including G-protein coupled receptors, coupled to adenylate cyclase (GS, Gi/o), or to phospholipase C-β; (iv) other targets of marine biotoxins include intracellular cytosolic and nuclear receptors that may affect mRNA and protein transcription; and (v) the role of second messengers such as calcium, inositol trisphosphate (IP3), and diacylglycerol, which is also another important aspect of the mode of action of marine toxins that needs to be better known. Therefore, the better we know the cellular and molecular target(s), signaling pathways and mechanism(s) used by marine biotoxins to exert their toxic activities, the more possibilities we will have to find putative antagonists or effective countermeasures.

Prof. Dr. Jordi Molgó
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • marine biotoxins
  • mechanism of action
  • pharmacology
  • cellular and molecular targets
  • signaling pathways
  • metabolism
  • toxicity
  • risk factors
  • molecular interactions
  • therapeutic potential

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 22129 KiB  
Article
Biodiversity and Hemolytic Toxicity of the Genus Heterocapsa (Dinophyceae) in the Beibu Gulf, China
by Yixiao Xu, Nina Dzhembekova, Kirsty F. Smith, Haifeng Gu, Uwe John, Huanda Xie, Yujuan Wen and Miao Wu
Mar. Drugs 2024, 22(11), 514; https://doi.org/10.3390/md22110514 - 14 Nov 2024
Viewed by 587
Abstract
The dinoflagellate genus Heterocapsa includes several widely distributed and potentially toxic species associated with Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), particularly affecting the Western Pacific Ocean. To reveal the biodiversity of Heterocapsa in Beibu Gulf, six strains were morphologically characterized using light and scanning electron [...] Read more.
The dinoflagellate genus Heterocapsa includes several widely distributed and potentially toxic species associated with Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), particularly affecting the Western Pacific Ocean. To reveal the biodiversity of Heterocapsa in Beibu Gulf, six strains were morphologically characterized using light and scanning electron microscopy, while large subunit rDNA (LSU rDNA) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) were sequenced for phylogenetic analysis through maximum likelihood and Bayesian inferences. Two strains (BGERL169, BGERL170) were identified as Heterocapsa philippinensis ribotype I, three (BGERL171-BGERL173) as a new Heterocapsa philippinensis ribotype II, and one strain (BGERL174) as Heterocapsa pseudotriquetra. Cells of H. philippinensis were ovoid to spherical, yellowish-brown, with reticulate chloroplasts, and had a sausage-shaped nucleus positioned longitudinally along the dorsal side of the cell, and the theca was arranged in Po, cp, X, 5′, 3a, 7″, 6c, 5s, 5‴, 2⁗. Additionally, BGERL169 and BGERL171 showed no hemolytic toxicity in rabbit erythrocyte lysis assays. To the best of our knowledge, this research provides the first morphological and phylogenetic analysis of H. philippinensis, including the identification of a new ribotype, as well as the discovery of H. pseudotriquetra in Chinese waters. The findings contribute to the understanding of Heterocapsa species biogeography and toxicity in Chinese waters, offering valuable data for future HAB monitoring in Beibu Gulf. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Biotoxins 3.0)
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16 pages, 9159 KiB  
Article
Long-Read Sequencing Unlocks New Insights into the Amphidinium carterae Microbiome
by Miranda Judd, Jens Wira, Allen R. Place and Tsvetan Bachvaroff
Mar. Drugs 2024, 22(8), 342; https://doi.org/10.3390/md22080342 - 27 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1300
Abstract
Dinoflagellates are one of the largest groups of marine microalgae and exhibit diverse trophic strategies. Some dinoflagellates can produce secondary metabolites that are known to be toxic, which can lead to ecologically harmful blooms. Amphidinium carterae is one species of dinoflagellate that produces [...] Read more.
Dinoflagellates are one of the largest groups of marine microalgae and exhibit diverse trophic strategies. Some dinoflagellates can produce secondary metabolites that are known to be toxic, which can lead to ecologically harmful blooms. Amphidinium carterae is one species of dinoflagellate that produces toxic compounds and is used as a model for dinoflagellate studies. The impact of the microbiome on A. carterae growth and metabolite synthesis is not yet fully understood, nor is the impact of bacterial data on sequencing and assembly. An antibiotic cocktail was previously shown to eliminate 16S amplification from the dinoflagellate culture. Even with drastically reduced bacterial numbers during antibiotic treatment, bacterial sequences were still present. In this experiment, we used novel Nanopore long-read sequencing techniques on A. carterae cultures to assemble 15 full bacterial genomes ranging from 2.9 to 6.0 Mb and found that the use of antibiotics decreased the percentage of reads mapping back to bacteria. We also identified shifts in the microbiome composition and identified a potentially deleterious bacterial species arising in the absence of the antibiotic treatment. Multiple antibiotic resistance genes were identified, as well as evidence that the bacterial population does not contribute to toxic secondary metabolite synthesis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Biotoxins 3.0)
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14 pages, 1389 KiB  
Article
Automated Patch Clamp for the Detection of Tetrodotoxin in Pufferfish Samples
by Mònica Campàs, Jaume Reverté, Àngels Tudó, Mounira Alkassar, Jorge Diogène and Francesc X. Sureda
Mar. Drugs 2024, 22(4), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/md22040176 - 15 Apr 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1682
Abstract
Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a marine toxin responsible for many intoxications around the world. Its presence in some pufferfish species and, as recently reported, in shellfish, poses a serious health concern. Although TTX is not routinely monitored, there is a need for fast, sensitive, [...] Read more.
Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a marine toxin responsible for many intoxications around the world. Its presence in some pufferfish species and, as recently reported, in shellfish, poses a serious health concern. Although TTX is not routinely monitored, there is a need for fast, sensitive, reliable, and simple methods for its detection and quantification. In this work, we describe the use of an automated patch clamp (APC) system with Neuro-2a cells for the determination of TTX contents in pufferfish samples. The cells showed an IC50 of 6.4 nM for TTX and were not affected by the presence of muscle, skin, liver, and gonad tissues of a Sphoeroides pachygaster specimen (TTX-free) when analysed at 10 mg/mL. The LOD achieved with this technique was 0.05 mg TTX equiv./kg, which is far below the Japanese regulatory limit of 2 mg TTX equiv./kg. The APC system was applied to the analysis of extracts of a Lagocephalus sceleratus specimen, showing TTX contents that followed the trend of gonads > liver > skin > muscle. The APC system, providing an in vitro toxicological approach, offers the advantages of being sensitive, rapid, and reliable for the detection of TTX-like compounds in seafood. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Biotoxins 3.0)
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22 pages, 1531 KiB  
Article
Tissue Distribution and Metabolization of Ciguatoxins in an Herbivorous Fish following Experimental Dietary Exposure to Gambierdiscus polynesiensis
by Rachel J. Clausing, Hela Ben Gharbia, Khalil Sdiri, Manoëlla Sibat, Ma. Llorina Rañada-Mestizo, Laura Lavenu, Philipp Hess, Mireille Chinain and Marie-Yasmine Dechraoui Bottein
Mar. Drugs 2024, 22(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/md22010014 - 25 Dec 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2084
Abstract
Ciguatoxins (CTXs), potent neurotoxins produced by dinoflagellates of the genera Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa, accumulate in commonly consumed fish species, causing human ciguatera poisoning. Field collections of Pacific reef fish reveal that consumed CTXs undergo oxidative biotransformations, resulting in numerous, often toxified analogs. [...] Read more.
Ciguatoxins (CTXs), potent neurotoxins produced by dinoflagellates of the genera Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa, accumulate in commonly consumed fish species, causing human ciguatera poisoning. Field collections of Pacific reef fish reveal that consumed CTXs undergo oxidative biotransformations, resulting in numerous, often toxified analogs. Following our study showing rapid CTX accumulation in flesh of an herbivorous fish, we used the same laboratory model to examine the tissue distribution and metabolization of Pacific CTXs following long-term dietary exposure. Naso brevirostris consumed cells of Gambierdiscus polynesiensis in a gel food matrix over 16 weeks at a constant dose rate of 0.36 ng CTX3C equiv g−1 fish d−1. CTX toxicity determination of fish tissues showed CTX activity in all tissues of exposed fish (eight tissues plus the carcass), with the highest concentrations in the spleen. Muscle tissue retained the largest proportion of CTXs, with 44% of the total tissue burden. Moreover, relative to our previous study, we found that larger fish with slower growth rates assimilated a higher proportion of ingested toxin in their flesh (13% vs. 2%). Analysis of muscle extracts revealed the presence of CTX3C and CTX3B as well as a biotransformed product showing the m/z transitions of 2,3-dihydroxyCTX3C. This is the first experimental evidence of oxidative transformation of an algal CTX in a model consumer and known vector of CTX into the fish food web. These findings that the flesh intended for human consumption carries the majority of the toxin load, and that growth rates can influence the relationship between exposure and accumulation, have significant implications in risk assessment and the development of regulatory measures aimed at ensuring seafood safety. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Biotoxins 3.0)
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