Abstract
Euglena sanguinea Ehrenberg is the only known species of euglenids which forms toxic blooms causing tangible losses to fish farms. Euglena sanguinea produces euglenophycin, a toxin similar in structure to solenopsin, an alkaloid found in fire ant venom. It was proved that euglenophycin exhibits not only ichthyotoxic but also herbicidal and anticancer activity. Recently, a specific mass spectrometric method of identification and quantitation of euglenophycin was developed to facilitate monitoring of that toxin in freshwater ponds. Despite the recent taxonomic verifications, proper identification of E. sanguinea is still difficult, especially for less experienced researchers. Herein, we describe a simple method based on nested PCR amplification of the nSSU rDNA fragments to identify a single E. sanguinea cell and its detection in a sample of water. The method will further facilitate monitoring of water reservoirs, especially estimating the risk of toxic blooms.
Highlights
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the occurrence of toxic algae blooms in freshwater aquaculture ponds was reported 13 times in the USA (North and South Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi)
Based on the alignment of all available euglenid nSSU rDNA sequences, the regions for primer design were chosen according to the following principles: (i) regions conserved for E. sanguinea (GenBank numbers: strain Argentina JQ281804, Henderson JQ281805, and SAG 1224-30 JQ281806), but dissimilar to any other species of euglenids, were chosen; (ii) intraspecific variations within the region were flanked by the primers; and (iii) the length of the PCR product had to be appropriate for efficient amplification
It is surprising that the toxicity of E. sanguinea, which can cause measurable damage to the economy, has been severely overlooked
Summary
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the occurrence of toxic algae blooms in freshwater aquaculture ponds was reported 13 times in the USA (North and South Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi). Lost revenue from these events exceeded US$1.1 million (Zimba et al 2004, 2010). The euglenid species present in toxic blooms was identified as Euglena sanguinea. The toxin produced by E. sanguinea, called euglenophycin, was identified and described. It is an alkaloid similar in structure to fire ant venom, solenopsin. It was proved that euglenophycin exhibits ichthyotoxic and
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