Pennate diatom Nitzschia pungens as the primary source of Domoic acid, a toxin in shellfish from eastern Prince Edward Island, Canada

From National Research Council Canada

DOI	Resolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/f89-156
Author	Search for: Bates, S. S.¹; Search for: Bird, C J.¹; Search for: de Freitas, A. S. W.; Search for: Foxall, R.¹; Search for: Gilgan, M.; Search for: Hanic, L. A.; Search for: Johnson, G. R.; Search for: Mcculloch, A. W.¹; Search for: Odense, P.; Search for: Pocklington, R.; Search for: Quilliam, M. A.¹; Search for: Sim, P. G.¹; Search for: Smith, J. C.; Search for: Rao, D. V. Subba; Search for: Todd, E. C. D.; Search for: Walter, J. A.¹; Search for: Wright, J. L. C.¹
Name affiliation	National Research Council of Canada. NRC Institute for Marine Biosciences
Format	Text, Article
Journal title	Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
ISSN	0706-652X 1205-7533
Volume	46
Issue	7
Pages	1203–1215
Abstract	An outbreak of food poisoning in Canada during autumn 1987 was traced to cultured blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) from the Cardigan Bay region of eastern Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.). The toxin, identified as domoic acid, had not previously been found in any shellfish and this outbreak represents the first known occurrence of human poisoning by this neurotoxin. A plankton bloom at the time of the outbreak consisted almost entirely of the pennate diatom, Nitzschia pungens f. multiseries, and a positive correlation was found between the number of N. pungens cells and the concentration of domoic acid in the plankton. Nitzschia pungens f. multiseries isolated from Cardigan Bay produced domoic acid in culture at levels (1 to 20 pg∙cell−1) comparable with values estimated for N. pungens in the plankton samples. Isolates of several Cardigan Bay phytoplankton, including the closely related species Nitzschia seriata, failed to produce domoic acid. Other Nitzschia spp. and two Amphora coffeaeformis isolates also failed to produce domoic acid. We conclude that N. pungens was the major source of the domoic acid in toxic mussels in eastern P.E.I. The recurrence, in November 1988, of a monospecific bloom of N. pungens and the presence of domoic acid in plankton and mussels reinforced this conclusion.
Publication date	1989-07
Language	English
Peer reviewed	Yes
NPARC number	23000889
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Record identifier	cfa7c8b7-5c7c-400b-a976-98aa600eea9d
Record created	2016-11-07
Record modified	2020-03-17

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