Biotechnological significance of toxic marine dinoflagellates.
Dinoflagellates are microalgae that are associated with the production of many marine toxins. These toxins poison fish, other wildlife and humans. Dinoflagellate-associated human poisonings include paralytic shellfish poisoning, diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, neurotoxic shellfish poisoning, and ciguatera fish poisoning. Dinoflagellate toxins and bioactives are of increasing interest because of their commercial impact, influence on safety of seafood, and potential medical and other applications. This review discusses biotechnological methods of identifying toxic dinoflagellates and detecting their toxins. Potential applications of the toxins are discussed. A lack of sufficient quantities of toxins for investigational purposes remains a significant limitation. Producing quantities of dinoflagellate bioactives requires an ability to mass culture them. Considerations relating to bioreactor culture of generally fragile and slow-growing dinoflagellates are discussed. Production and processing of dinoflagellates to extract bioactives, require attention to biosafety considerations as outlined in this review.
Camacho
F Garcia
FG
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain. fgarcia@ual.es
Rodríguez
J Gallardo
JG
Mirón
A Sánchez
AS
García
M C Cerón
MC
Belarbi
E H
EH
Chisti
Y
Y
Grima
E Molina
EM
D000818:Animals; D019149:Bioreactors; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D036841:Ciguatera Poisoning / Q000175:diagnosis; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000139:chemically induced; D004141:Dinoflagellida / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008387:Marine Toxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D010243:Paralysis / Q000139:chemically induced; D012015:Reference Standards
D008387:Marine Toxins