Brevetoxins

[sbovisjb1]

In short it is a toxin which causes a persons neurological patterns to be disrupted.

* Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP)
* Neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP)
* Diarrheal shellfish poisoning (DSP)
* Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP)

Here are some of the effects. Since I was particularly interested in the ASP, I found out that there is no known cure for it. Some kind soul on wikipedia even linked to a synthesis. Unfortunately the lecturer said that it was a 12 year synthesis.... That said I will go through various medical journals and will ask various professionals on the matter.

http://www.chemistry.msu.edu/courses/cem852/classics/Chapter37.pdf


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevetoxin (Page to get you started)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellfish_poisoning

I have become very fond of wikipedia.

[simply RED]

Methodology to grow the organisms in artificial environment should be created, there is no time to lose. To my mind marine toxins are very interesting.
Hard to treat, hard to find.. if not impossible. We are as defenseless from them as a slug or shellfish.
Maitotoxin and palytoxin are maybe the most potent.
My mentor in biochemistry back in 2001 was also obsessed from them.

[Jacks Complete]

But you probably cannot simply "grow your own" in a fishtank. Unless the animal actually creates the entire synthesis from scratch, it won't be poisonous. Generally you find that environmental factors are a big part - poison arrow frogs need the right bugs to eat to accumulate the poisons, clownfish need to rub against anenomes in order to stay immune to the stings. Some animals are not like this, of course. To the best of my knowledge, both Dragonfish and puffers are poisonous in captivity, but, I cannot trust the source for this 100%.

If you plan to do this, you need to do some serious research into the tanks and water systems required for the fish, as well as lay out some hefty money for things like the salt level checkers and the water heaters. Of course, thanks to the large exotic fish market at the hobby level, you can get all this gear quite easily, as well as the exotic fish. Knowing what eats what is also useful, otherwise, like trying to breed spiders, you simply end up with one large fish...

Further results will be read eagerly!

[Alexires]

While Jacks Complete certainly has a point, why not try harvesting saxitoxin from Dinoflagellates?

While it may be difficult to breed poison frogs, or other more complex organisms, Dinoflagellates are just algae that thrive on phosphates, they are photosynthetic, so with a sample from a Red Tide, some fertilisers and a tank in the sun, one potentially has a very lethal nerve toxin.

[-=HeX=-]

:D alexires has just reminded me of a project I did ages ago. During the summer I did a short marine biology course in a local uni. It was very basic but we got to plan and execute an experiment. I collected samples of a toxic algae and used ammonium nitrate and ammonium phosphate to grow an algal bloom of very toxic algae. I tested its toxicity by secretly infecting a tank of freshwater fish that were to be killed and dissected with a sample. They were dead the next day. Like half a gram killed all 10 trout. The growing bottle was left stagnant in sunlight. Its really that simple.

[JohnG]

Hex:
Do you know what kind of algae it was?

You said that you "collected samples" of it; how? Did you just go to the beach during red tide or....?

[-=HeX=-]

I dont have a clue as to its name. I did know it but I cant find it. I will try to find my lab copy. By 'Collected samples' I went to a beach area where the shellfish have been contaminated by this algae so they are inedible. This is why the oyster festival secretly outsourced their oysters.

It grew fairly rapidly nonetheless and was very rapidly fatal. I will be trying to culture it again this summer.

[Herro]

I've read over a few articles on the toxins and it seems like the most direct way would be the actual synthesis of one of the toxins (Total synthesis of (-)-gambierol, Fuwa et. al 2002). There's a few of these articles floating around. I haven't delved too deeply into them, but they seem to be complicated and expensive to carry out.

The toxins are largely non-proteinacious, which makes it a little more difficult to synth. Being a bioengineer, it'd be easy to clone the exon into E. coli and his-tag it.

If one lived in a coastal area with a recent red tide warning (or some phosphates on hand), taking a sample of the plankton directly to cultivate or primary consumers--probably mussels and other filter-feeders--would be a very easy way to obtain the toxins. SCUBA/snorkeling isn't too difficult.

The following table is out of Morten et al. 2007 and lists dinoflagellates contained in toxic mussels from the Black sea. I know that members of the genus Gonyaulax are normally toxic.

Alexandrium sp. 150
Ceratium furca 450
Cochlodinium helicoides 225
Dinophysis rotundata 225
Dinophysis caudata 150
Gymnodinium sp. 4950
Gyrodinium fusiforme 75
Gonyaulax polygramma 150
Gonyaulax spinifera 375
Heterocapsa triquetra 75
Lingulodinium polyedrum 300
Oblea baculifera 1500
Prorocentrum compressum 150
Prorocentrum cordatum 600
Prorocentrum micans 1275
Protoperidinium bipes 150
Protoperidinium divergens 375
Scrippsiella trochoidea 2250
Warnowia schuttii 300

[Herro]

I forgot to mention that the numbers following the species are the average counts of algae in the mussels' guts; gives you an idea of rarity and specificity regarding feeding habits and general ocean water content.

Where is the edit function? :confused:

--EDIT--
Seems the edit function is time-sensitive. I searched for mention in the updates for the forum and didn't come up with anything. Sorry to double-post.