Arsenic species in Australian temperate marine food chains

2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (9) ◽  
pp. 885 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Maher ◽  
S. Foster ◽  
F. Krikowa
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Pathway ◽  
Arsenic Species ◽  
Marine Organisms ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Arsenic Compounds ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Stage Conversion ◽  
Biochemical Pathways ◽  
Marine Food

Although over 50 arsenic species have been identified in marine organisms, the biochemical pathways by which these species are formed are not known. In this paper, we present an overview of bioconversions of arsenic species that occur in marine food chains based on studies conducted by our laboratory as well as the work of others. Phytoplankton and macroalgae only contain dimethylarsenoribosides or simple methylated arsenic compounds such as dimethylarsenate and dimethylarsenoethanol. Marine animals contain mostly arsenobetaine and a range of other arsenic species that may be precursors of arsenobetaine formation. The formation of arsenobetaine in marine animals from dimethylarsenoribosides may occur through a two-stage conversion pathway: arsenoriboside or trimethylarsonioriboside degradation to arsenocholine followed by quantitative oxidation to arsenobetaine. The minor arsenic species found in marine organisms are sulfur analogues of compounds found in the S-adenosylmethionine-methionine salvage and the dimethylsulfoniopropionate metabolic pathway of animals. A key intermediate in these pathways would be arsenomethionine, which could possibly be formed from dimethylarsinite, dimethylarsenoribosides or an arsenic-containing analogue of S-adenosylmethionine. Examining arsenic species in whole ecosystems has the advantage of using the pattern of arsenic species found to postulate the biochemical pathways of their formation.

Arsenic species in seafood: Origin and human health implications

2010 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin A. Francesconi
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Arsenic Species ◽  
Marine Organisms ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Human Toxicology ◽  
Important Food ◽  
Arsenic Compounds ◽  
Inorganic Species ◽  
Organoarsenic Compound ◽  
High Concentrations

The presence of arsenic in marine samples was first reported over 100 years ago, and shortly thereafter it was shown that common seafood such as fish, crustaceans, and molluscs contained arsenic at exceedingly high concentrations. It was noted at the time that this seafood arsenic was probably present as an organically bound species because the concentrations were so high that if the arsenic had been present as an inorganic species it would certainly have been toxic to the humans consuming seafood. Investigations in the late 1970s identified the major form of seafood arsenic as arsenobetaine [(CH3)3As+CH2COO–], a harmless organoarsenic compound which, following ingestion by humans, is rapidly excreted in the urine. Since that work, however, over 50 additional arsenic species have been identified in marine organisms, including many important food products. For most of these arsenic compounds, the human toxicology remains unknown. The current status of arsenic in seafood will be discussed in terms of the possible origin of these compounds and the implications of their presence in our foods.

Arsenic compounds in tropical marine ecosystems: similarities between mangrove forest and coral reef

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Somkiat Khokiattiwong ◽  
Narumol Kornkanitnan ◽  
Walter Goessler ◽  
Sabine Kokarnig ◽  
Kevin A. Francesconi
Keyword(s):  
Marine Algae ◽  
Arsenic Species ◽  
Mangrove Ecosystem ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Dry Mass ◽  
Aqueous Extracts ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Arsenic Compound ◽  
Arsenic Compounds ◽  
Marine Animals

Environmental context. Despite the widespread occurrence of arsenobetaine in marine animals the origin of this arsenic compound remains unknown. A current hypothesis is that arsenobetaine is formed from more complex arsenic compounds found in marine algae. To test this hypothesis, we examined the arsenic compounds in a mangrove ecosystem where algae play a limited role in primary productivity. Abstract. Marine algae are known to bioaccumulate arsenic and transform it into arsenosugars, which are thought to be precursors of the major arsenic compound, arsenobetaine, found in marine animals. Marine ecosystems based on mangrove forests have high nutrient input from mangrove leaves, and thus provide a unique opportunity to study the cycling of arsenic in a marine system where algae are not the dominant food source. Two mangrove forests in Phuket, Thailand were selected as sampling sites for this study. For comparison, samples were also collected from two coral reef sites at and near Phuket. The samples collected included mangrove leaves, corals, algae, molluscs, fish and crustaceans. Arsenic contents in the samples and in aqueous extracts of the samples were determined by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry following a dry-ashing mineralisation procedure, and arsenic species were determined in the aqueous extracts by HPLC-MS (mainly ICPMS). Mangrove leaves contained only low concentrations of total arsenic (0.10–0.73 mg kg–1 dry mass) and the aqueous extracts thereof contained inorganic arsenic species, methylarsonate and dimethylarsinate, but arsenosugars were not detected. The total mean arsenic contents (3.2–86 mg kg–1 dry mass) of the animals from the mangrove ecosystem, however, were typical of those found in animal samples from other marine ecosystems. Similarly the arsenic compounds present were typical of those in animals from other marine ecosystems comprising mainly arsenobetaine with smaller quantities of other common arsenicals including arsenosugars, arsenocholine, tetramethylarsonium ion, trimethylarsine oxide and dimethylarsinate. A trimethylated arsenosugar, which is not commonly reported in marine organisms, was a significant arsenical (6–8% of total As) in some gastropod species from the mangrove ecosystem. The coral samples contained mainly arsenosugars and arsenobetaine, and the other animals collected from the coral ecosystem contained essentially the same pattern of arsenicals found for the mangrove animals. The data suggest that food chains based on algae are not necessary for animals to accumulate large concentrations of arsenobetaine.

Polonium (210Po) and lead (210Pb) in marine organisms and their transfer in marine food chains

2011 ◽  
Vol 102 (5) ◽  
pp. 462-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando P. Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Marine Organisms ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Marine Food ◽  
Polonium 210Po

Vitamin A problems in marine research

1962 ◽  
Vol 265 (1322) ◽  
pp. 359-365 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin A ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Vitamin B ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
Marine Research ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Marine Food ◽  
Marine Productivity ◽  
Biochemical Research ◽  
Β Carotene

The subject of this paper will appear somewhat limited in contrast to many of the other contributions to the symposium. It is, however, an attempt to show how one line of biochemical research on marine animals has developed. Work on the occurrence of vitamin A and its precursors in the various links in marine food chains has been going on in the U nit for Biochemical Research bearing on Fisheries’ Problems at Shinfield for over 10 years. Similar investigations begun there more recently are concerned with the possible roles of vitamin B 12 in marine productivity and of amino acids in osmoregulation and the nutrition of plankton. In 1947 groups of biochemists working in California (Mattson, Mehl & Deuel 1947), Liverpool (Glover, Goodwin & Morton 1947) and Shinfield (Thompson, Ganguly & Kon 1947) found th a t in mammals the site of conversion to vitamin A of its principal precursor β-carotene (see figure 22) was the lumen of the small intestine. The attention of the Shinfield group (Thompson, Ganguly & Kon 1949) was drawn to the work of Wagner (1939) who claimed th a t whales caught near the Faeroes were converting β-carotene in their crustacean food or ‘krill’ to vitamin A during its passage along the intestine.

Qualitative Studies on the Metabolism of Naphthalene in Maia Squinado (Herbst)

1973 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 819-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. D. S. Corner ◽  
C. C. Kilvington ◽  
S. C. M. O'Hara
Keyword(s):  
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽  
Musca Domestica ◽  
Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
General Investigation ◽  
Marine Crustacean ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
Normal Environment ◽  
Marine Food

Many studies have been made on the metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mammals and it has been shown that these animals can convert compounds such as naphthalene into several metabolites (see, for example, Corner & Young, 1955). Baldwin (1957) has remarked on the ability of mammals to metabolize substances that they are unlikely to meet ‘except through the medium of the laboratory’. Marine animals, how-ever, can encounter these compounds in their normal environment, considerable quantities of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons being present in crude oil (Boylan & Tripp, 1971), in which form substantial amounts must be released into the sea annually.Little work has been done on the metabolism of naphthalene in marine animals, apart from studies confined – as far as we are aware – to experiments with three species of fish (Lee, Sauerheber & Dobbs, 1972) and the mussel Mytilus edulis L. (Lee, Sauerheber & Benson, 1972). Data obtained using fish were consistent with those of earlier studies with mammals in showing that the hydrocarbon is converted into hydroxylated derivatives: but no evidence of naphthalene metabolism was found in the experiments with Mytilus. Indeed, until the present work, the only species of invertebrate that has been found to metabolize the compound is the housefly Musca domestica L. (Terriere, Boose & Roubal, 1961).The present study, using Maia squinado (Herbst), has been carried out as part of a general investigation of the accumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in marine food chains and was designed to establish whether a marine crustacean possesses a means of metabolizing naphthalene by converting it into soluble excretion products.

Methylation of Arsenic by Freshwater Green Algae

1983 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 1254-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. Baker ◽  
P. T. S. Wong ◽  
Y. K. Chau ◽  
C. I. Mayfield ◽  
W. E. Inniss
Keyword(s):  
Green Algae ◽  
Lake Water ◽  
Sodium Arsenite ◽  
Basal Medium ◽  
Arsenic Species ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Dimethylarsinic Acid ◽  
Additional Source ◽  
Arsenic Compounds ◽  
Methylarsonic Acid

Isolates from four genera of freshwater green algae were capable of methylating sodium arsenite in lake water and Bold's basal medium. Analysis of the liquid phase of the methylation flasks revealed the presence of methylarsonic acid, dimethylarsinic acid, and trimethylarsine oxide. Volatile arsine and methylarsines were not detected in the headspace gases presumably because of the inability of the algae to reduce completely the methylated–arsenic species. Although the algae varied with respect to their methylating abilities, the levels of methylated–arsenic compounds were always significantly higher when the algae were grown in lake water. This may have been due to the lower phosphate concentration in the lake water. We suggest that arsenic methylation by green algae constitutes an additional source for the formation and cycling of organo-arsenic compounds in freshwater ecosystems.

Determination of inorganic and methylated arsenic species in marine organisms and sediments

1981 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 157-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.A. Maher
Keyword(s):  
Arsenic Species ◽  
Marine Organisms

Seabirds as biomonitors of mercury inputs to epipelagic and mesopelagic marine food chains

1998 ◽  
Vol 213 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 299-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R Thompson ◽  
Robert W Furness ◽  
Luis R Monteiro
Keyword(s):  
Food Chains ◽  
Marine Food

Variable transfer of detoxified metals from snails to hermit crabs in marine food chains

1994 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Nott ◽  
A. Nicolaidou
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Marine Food

scholarly journals Arsenic speciation in food chains from mid-Atlantic hydrothermal vents

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivien F. Taylor ◽  
Brian P. Jackson ◽  
Matthew R. Siegfried ◽  
Jana Navratilova ◽  
Kevin A. Francesconi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Hydrothermal Vents ◽  
Arsenic Speciation ◽  
Inorganic Arsenic ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Arsenic Compounds ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
Δ13c And Δ15n ◽  
Organic Arsenic

Environmental contextArsenic occurs in marine organisms at high levels and in many chemical forms. A common explanation of this phenomenon is that algae play the central role in accumulating arsenic by producing arsenic-containing sugars that are then converted into simpler organic arsenic compounds found in fish and other marine animals. We show that animals in deep-sea vent ecosystems, which are uninhabited by algae, contain the same organic arsenic compounds as do pelagic animals, indicating that algae are not the only source of these compounds. AbstractArsenic concentration and speciation were determined in benthic fauna collected from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal vents. The shrimp species, Rimicaris exoculata, the vent chimney-dwelling mussel, Bathymodiolus azoricus, Branchipolynoe seepensis, a commensal worm of B. azoricus and the gastropod Peltospira smaragdina showed variations in As concentration and in stable isotope (δ13C and δ15N) signature between species, suggesting different sources of As uptake. Arsenic speciation showed arsenobetaine to be the dominant species in R. exoculata, whereas in B. azoricus and B. seepensis arsenosugars were most abundant, although arsenobetaine, dimethylarsinate and inorganic arsenic were also observed, along with several unidentified species. Scrape samples from outside the vent chimneys covered with microbial mat, which is a presumed food source for many vent organisms, contained high levels of total As, but organic species were not detectable. The formation of arsenosugars in pelagic environments is typically attributed to marine algae, and the pathway to arsenobetaine is still unknown. The occurrence of arsenosugars and arsenobetaine in these deep sea organisms, where primary production is chemolithoautotrophic and stable isotope analyses indicate food sources are of vent origin, suggests that organic arsenicals can occur in a foodweb without algae or other photosynthetic life.

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