Current News
Culturing Algae for Biotechnology
Training course 23-24 September 2010
This two day course will include hands-on practical work and lectures. It is provided by staff working at the CCAP.
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Topics covered include:
• Algal biodiversity
• Algal biotechnology
• Media preparation and sterilisation
• Algal maintenance
• Algal cultures for biotechnology
• Culture enumeration |
Cost: £275 per person including lunch and refreshments. Participants should arrange for their own transport and accommodation.
For more information please contact: ccap@sams.ac.uk
A new collection of Alexandrium cultures available at CCAP
CCAP is privileged to host a new collection of cultures of the potential shellfish toxin producing dinoflagellate Alexandrium (Halim), now available for purchase. This collection was generated during a three year research project performed by Marine Scotland Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, funded by the Scottish Government and the EC 6th Framework project SPIES-DETOX. A total of 33 Alexandrium cultures were generated from water and sediment samples collected around the Scottish coast (see map). These include 9 cultures of A. tamarense (Group I), 16 cultures of A. tamarense (Group III), 4 cultures of A. ostenfeldii, 3 cultures of A. minutum and 1 culture of A. tamutum [1, 2].
Toxin analysis of the A. tamarense (Group I) isolates by LC-MS-MS, revealed the profiles to be dominated by the potent carbamate toxins STX, NEO, GTX-4, GTX-3 and the N-sulfocarbamoyl toxins GTX-5 and C2. Some A. ostenfeldii cultures were shown to produce both PSP toxins and spirolides, while others produced only spirolides. A. tamarense (Group III), A. tamutum and A. minutum were not observed to produce toxins under the incubation conditions used. Molecular analysis of the LSU was performed on a selection of these cultures [1,2] with sequences submitted to GENBANK.
The Alexandrium cultures are now available to the international scientific community. Supplementary information e.g. Genbank accession numbers can now be found in our strain list. Fluorescent images of the thecal plate structure are also available upon request from Dr Eileen Bresnan at the Aberdeen laboratory.
Marine Scotland Marine Laboratory and the Scottish Association for Marine Science are continuing their investigations into the ecology of Alexandrium in Scottish waters through a NERC funded Ph.D. studentship and a Scottish Government funded research project.
For further information about these cultures please contact CCAP.
Acknowledgements:
These cultures were generated under the Scottish Government ROAME AE1193 and the EC 6th Framework Programme project SPIES-DETOX (030270-2)
References
1. C. Collins, J. Graham, L. Brown, E. Bresnan, J-P. Lacaze and E. A. Turrell (2009), J. Phycol, 45, 692 – 703.
2. L. Brown, E. Bresnan, J. Graham, J-P. Lacaze, E. A. Turrell and C. Collins (Submitted), Eur. J. Phycol.
CCAP hosted the 58th Meeting of the British Phycological Society, January 2010
Information available here.
New detection system for parasites of brown algae
A team of researchers including SAMS and CCAP staff Dr. Claire Gachon, Dr. Frithjof Küpper and postgraduate student Martina Strittmatter have developed a new technique for identifying the oomycete pathogen Eurychasma, the most common parasite of brown algae. (Pictured above: intracellularly-developing Eurychasma parasitic thallus)
Brown algae are potential sources of green energy from biofuels, as well as providing a source of food and protection for many marine species, and could be severely affected by a Eurychasma epidemic.
The research is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology
See also the article on Planet Earth online.
We now have available a DVD version of the video "Microbial Engine: Algae and Protozoa - Ecology to Biotechnology".
Click here for more information.
CCAP's website is now online with strain images, references, EMBL/Genbank/DDBJ ccession numbers and a greatly improved search engine.
The site has recently been upgraded and the enhanced catalogue search engine provides photographic images of the actual strains in the collection. At present the number of cultures with images is limited but staff are working hard to add more. This part of CCAP's 5 year Oceans 2025 commitment with NERC and over the next 3-4 years we will be developing our skills to capture still and movie images of those tricky, fast swimming microorganisms!
In addition, the catalogue search engine allows searching under multiple categories including a special taxonomy section.
New 'Further Information' pages display any literature referencing each strain, and links to the MBL nucleotide sequence database where sequences have been deposited with EMBL, GenBank or DDBJ. This information will be continually added to.
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