Project Title: Exposure of marine worms to culture of Alexandrium catenella
Duration: May 2024 – July 2024
Funding Source(s): WHOI
Principal Investigator and contact info:
Lead Investigator / onsite-contact: Donald Anderson / Sylvain Gaillard
Affiliation: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Email: danderson@whoi.edu / sylvain.gaillard@whoi.edu
Project Description: Toxic species of the dinoflagellate genus Alexandrium can produce toxigenic compounds that can accumulate in filter-feeding organisms, including saxitoxins, responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in humans. While the toxin pathways have been well characterized in several marine organisms, especially marine bivalves, there is little information on animals indirectly consumed by human or directly consumed traditionally as subsistence food by indigenous populations, which are not monitored for saxitoxin contamination and thus pose a risk of PSP in consumers. Several marine worms have been described as prey items of walrus, a top-predator hunted in northern circumpolar regions of Alaska and Russia. We aim to investigate the uptake, accumulation and depuration of saxitoxin by locally sampled marine worms exposed in vitro to an Alaskan isolate of A. catenella. The results of this study will be directly beneficial for native communities, as well as will improve knowledge of saxitoxin transfer through the food-chain, including to local fish and other animals that consume marine worms.
