Chemistry, Toxicology and Etiology of Marine Biotoxins

Dear Colleagues,

Marine biotoxins are bioactive natural products that are primarily produced by microalgae and bacteria. These toxins affect aquatic organisms and human health. The blooming of dinoflagellate or diatom species leads to the poisoning of plankton-feeding bivalve mollusks, inducing paralytic, diarrheic, neurologic, and amnesic shellfish poisoning. Following the elucidation of the appearance patterns of these microalgae and the principal toxin structures, the risk of shellfish poisoning by monitoring plankton and toxins has been avoided.

Palytoxin analogs including ovatoxins are responsible for respiratory disorders and dermatitis in the exposure of people to marine aerosols during Ostreopsis cf. ovata blooms as well as to some aquarium containing corals. Also, they may be implicated in clupeotoxism food poisoning due to the consumption of Clupeidae fish.

While important progress has been made recently in the identification of the main toxins associated with ciguatera and pufferfish poisoning, further investigation on the identification and structural elucidation of new analogs, transmission, and accumulation modes is required. In addition, the isolation and structure elucidation of Indian Ocean ciguatoxin, charcheatoxin, and the substances implicated in Haff disease and similar type of intoxication are issues of interest in this field.  

This Special Issue aims to present a collection of new findings on the chemical, toxicological, and etiological aspects of marine biotoxins, as well as observations and evidence in health risk assessment, analysis, and management, which might contribute to the research areas mentioned above. Topics of interest include isolation and structure elucidation, the development and/or validation of analysis methods, the monitoring of toxins, toxicology and mechanisms of action, outbreak reports, and epidemiological observations.

Dr. Naomasa Oshiro
Prof. Dr. Ana Gago-Martínez
Prof. Dr. Aurelia Tubaro
Guest Editors

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