https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2019/NP/C8NP00092A

Marine natural products.

Lang, Florian, Gillian L. Busch, Markus Ritter, Harald Volkl, Siegfried Waldegger, Erich Gulbins, and Dieter Haussinger. Functional Significance of Cell Volume Regulatory Mechanisms. Physiol. Rev. ...

Functional Significance of Cell Volume Regulatory Mechanisms

https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00875835/document

State of knowledge and concerns on cyanobacterial blooms and cyanotoxins.

Gallic acid inhibits histamine release and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in mast cells.

Food authenticity is presently a subject of great concern to food authorities, as the incorrect labelling of foodstuffs can represent a commercial fraud. The implication of misleading labelling can be much more important concerning the presence of potentially allergenic foods. The need to support food labelling has provided the development of analytical techniques for the analysis of food ingredients. In the last years, several methods based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have been proposed as useful means for identifying species of origin in foods, as well as food allergens and genetically modified organisms (GMO), due to their high specificity and sensitivity, as well as rapid processing time and low cost. This work intends to provide an updated and extensive overview on the PCR-based methods for food authentication, including also methods for allergens and GMO the detection in foods.

Food authentication by PCR-based methods

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin responsible for many human intoxications and fatalities each year. The origin of TTX is unknown, but in the pufferfish, it seems to be produced by endosymbiotic bacteria that often seem to be passed down the food chain. The ingestion of contaminated pufferfish, considered the most delicious fish in Japan, is the usual route of toxicity. This neurotoxin, reported as a threat to human health in Asian countries, has spread to the Pacific and Mediterranean, due to the increase of temperature waters worldwide. TTX, for which there is no known antidote, inhibits sodium channel producing heart failure in many cases and consequently death. In Japan, a regulatory limit of 2 mg eq TTX/kg was established, although the restaurant preparation of "fugu" is strictly controlled by law and only chefs qualified are allowed to prepare the fish. Due to its paralysis effect, this neurotoxin could be used in the medical field as an analgesic to treat some cancer pains.

Tetrodotoxin, an Extremely Potent Marine Neurotoxin: Distribution, Toxicity, Origin and Therapeutical Uses.

A new multiplex real-time PCR developed method for Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes detection in food and environmental samples

Massive phytoplankton proliferation, and the consequent release of toxic metabolites, can be responsible for seafood poisoning outbreaks: filter-feeding mollusks, such as shellfish, mussels, oysters or clams, can accumulate these toxins throughout the food chain and present a threat for consumers’ health. Particular environmental and climatic conditions favor this natural phenomenon, called harmful algal blooms (HABs); the phytoplankton species mostly involved in these toxic events are dinoflagellates or diatoms belonging to the genera Alexandrium, Gymnodinium, Dinophysis, and Pseudo-nitzschia. Substantial economic losses ensue after HABs occurrence: the sectors mainly affected include commercial fisheries, tourism, recreational activities, and public health monitoring and management. A wide range of symptoms, from digestive to nervous, are associated to human intoxication by biotoxins, characterizing different and specific syndromes, called paralytic shellfish poisoning, amnesic shellfish poisoning, diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, and neurotoxic shellfish poisoning. This review provides a complete and updated survey of phycotoxins usually found in marine invertebrate organisms and their relevant properties, gathering information about the origin, the species where they were found, as well as their mechanism of action and main effects on humans.

Phycotoxins in Marine Shellfish: Origin, Occurrence and Effects on Humans.

Legislation regarding the labeling of processed products is an important issue in the protection of consumer rights. This labeling is especially important in products that cannot be identified on the basis of their morphological characters, because these are removed from the animal in the transformation process. The goal of this study was the identification of mussel species using Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and Forensically Informative Nucleotide Sequencing (FINS) methodologies. The molecular marker selected was 18S rDNA (nuclear small-subunit rDNA gene), which allows identification at the genus level and at the species level in some cases. The genera included in this study were Mytilus, Perna, Aulacomya, Semimytilus, Brachidontes, Choromytilus, and Perumytilus. Different markers were used for genetic identification at the species level. To identify the species included in the genus Perna and Choromytilus, a fragment of ITS 1 (Internal Transcribed Spacer 1) was amplified by multiplex PCR and digested with restrictases. The species of Mytilus were identified by length polymorphism and RFLP of the polyphenolic adhesive protein gene. This methodology was validated with products manufactured in the authors' pilot plant and applied to commercial samples. Therefore, this sequential method can be completely or partially used to determine the mussel genus or species present in any food product.

Ana G. Cabado

Papers

Tetrodotoxin, an Extremely Potent Marine Neurotoxin: Distribution, Toxicity, Origin and Therapeutical Uses.

A new multiplex real-time PCR developed method for Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes detection in food and environmental samples

Phycotoxins in Marine Shellfish: Origin, Occurrence and Effects on Humans.

Development of a method for the genetic identification of mussel species belonging to Mytilus, Perna, Aulacomya, and other genera.

Functional compartments in rat mast cells for cAMP and calcium on histamine release.