From the sxtA4 Gene to Saxitoxin Production: What Controls the Variability Among Alexandrium minutum and Alexandrium pacificum Strains?

ABSTRACT: Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is a human foodborne syndrome caused by the consumption of shellfish that accumulate paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs, saxitoxin group). In PST-producing dinoflagellates such as Alexandrium spp., toxin synthesis is encoded in the nuclear genome via a gene cluster (sxt). Toxin production is supposedly associated with the presence of a 4th domain in the sxtA gene (sxtA4), one of the core genes of the PST gene cluster. It is postulated that gene expression in dinoflagellates is partially constitutive, with both transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes potentially co-occurring. Therefore, gene structure and expression mode are two important features to explore in order to fully understand toxin production processes in di

SUBMITTER: Geffroy S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7944994 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature