Migration and Transformation Behaviors of Neurotoxin BMAA along Food
Chains in a Diatom-dominated Marine Ecosystem in China
Abstract
Neurotoxin β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) produced by cyanobacteria
and microalgae has been concerned by scientists due to its toxicity to
human motoneurons. The source and environmental behaviors of BMAA in
marine ecosystem are important to understand its risk to human health.
Here a diatoms-dominated marine ecosystem in Jiaozhou Bay, China, was
investigated for BMAA contamination in phytoplankton, zooplankton, and
marine animals, during four seasons in 2019. Results showed that BMAA
was migrated and biomagnified along the food chains from phytoplankton
to higher trophic organisms, in which the trophic magnification factors
(TMF) for zooplankton, bivalve mollusks, carnivorous crustacea and
saprophytic gastropod mollusks were approximately 4.58, 30.1, 42.5, and
74.4, respectively. An isomer of BMAA, β-aminomethyl-L-alanine (BAMA),
was ubiquitous in phytoplankton samples and its content ratios to BMAA
looks gradually decreased with increasing trophic levels. A total of 56
diatom strains (Pseudo-nitzschia spp., Thalassiosira spp., Chaetoceros
spp., Planktoniella spp., Minidiscus spp.) were isolated from the
Chinese coast and cultured in the laboratory, among which 21 strains
produced BMAA mainly presented in the precipitated bound fraction
ranging from 0.11 to 3.95 µg g-1 dry weight. BMAA was firstly detected
in both Pseudo-nitzschia and Planktoniella genera in this study. Only
2,4-diaminobutyric acid (DAB) but not BMAA or BAMA was detected in seven
symbiotic bacteria isolated from the gut of Neverita didyma, which
further proves that the benthic vector of BMAA, N. didyma, accumulated
BMAA through food chains. These findings demonstrated that the coastal
residents have a risk to accumulate BMAA by consumption of seafood
products.