Identification of the Toxic Pentapeptide Nodularin in a Cyanobacterial Bloom in a Shrimp Farm in South American Atlantic Coast

Abstract

Since 2010, blooms of the brackish cyanobacteria Nodularia spumigena are recurrent in the shrimp growth tanks of the Marine Aquaculture Station during summer in Southern Brazil. Cyanobacterial growth led to a decrease in the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei productivity. In the summer of 2014, a Nodularia bloom was collected from the tanks; filaments were separated by flotation and washed thoroughly twice in F/2 culture medium. Healthy filaments were lyophilized and the powder used for nodularin quantification by HPLC-DAD and immunoassays. Nodularin containing lyophilized powder was also tested for toxicity against the brine shrimp Artemia salina post-larvae and the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei 35 days old larvae. The lyophilized Nodularia powder contained 1.88 mg of the toxin nodularin g-1d.w. Its toxicity was confirmed in bioassays with Artemia salina and Litopenaeus vannamei giving an LC50 of 1.22 and 2.50 μgL-1 of nodularin, respectively. This paper firstly describes the occurrence and the toxicity of nodularin in South Atlantic coastal waters with consequences to shrimp farming.