New Tool May Brighten Future Of Toxin Screening In Shellfish

U.S. scientists have come up with a fluorescent probe that could offer a tool for real-time toxin screening in shellfish and help eradicate seafood related food-poisoning.

Some dinoflagellates, organisms typically found in sea water, can be toxic and are linked to injurious algae and bacteria buildup, which can lead the way to toxins moving into shellfish tissue, thereby putting food safety in serious danger.

Although it has been considered that symbiotic bacteria are important in the biosynthesis of toxins from dinoflagellates, this toxin-bacteria interaction has only now been established, reports the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Michael Burkart et al at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) have worked to create a fluorescence microscopy tool to screen shellfish for dinoflagellates that produce toxins.

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