Toxic microalgae in Norwegian waters: Uncovering fish-killing mechanisms of phytoplankton from Scandinavian waters

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

ToxANoWa

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2021

End date

12/31/2025

Budget

1,475,385 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

Algal blooms are seasonal phenomena in marine and freshwater ecosystems, and their frequency and severity are increasing. Algal blooms may be harmful (so-called HABs) and result in the die-off of vertebrate and invertebrate species. The ToxANoWa project is inspired by the recent HAB event that occurred in Northern Norway during the spring 2019. The responsible species for the toxicity of the bloom has been identified as Chrysochromulina leadbeateri, and collaborators are in possession of both field samples and laboratory cultures of this algal species and have started to investigate these samples. Very little is known about why this species may be toxic to fish. ToxANoWa aims to shed light on this by bringing together researchers with backgrounds in marine biology, analytical chemistry and toxicology. This collaboration has already resulted in promising candidates for the observed toxicity, and work is currently ongoing to confirm and elucidate their chemical structures further. The project also aims to study species in the related genus Prymnesium, which were historically responsible for HABs in Scandinavian waters. One of the species, P. parvum, is known to produce chemicals that are highly toxic to fish — these are known as prymnesins. P. parvum grows in many regions worldwide, but the chemistry and toxicology of the prymnesins is still not well understood. ToxANoWa-researchers are working on producing selected prymnesins to make them available for research and monitoring purposes. The team also currently works on the elucidation of the chemical structures of C-type prymnesins. This is a new variant of prymnesin, which was discovered by ToxANoWa-collaborators only recently. In addition, the ToxANoWa team will make efforts to raise prymnesin antibodies going to be used for development of research and monitoring tools to simplify selective extraction and detection of these toxic chemicals. Another Prymnesium species is P. polylepis, which was responsible for a large and toxic bloom in the Kattegat and Skagerrak in 1988. It is still unknown why this species is harmful to fish, but application of the modern technologies in ToxANoWa will hopefully provide additional clues. This project is a collaboration between the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, University of Oslo, the Technical University of Denmark and the National Research Council of Canada.