Computational Biology Commons^™

Identifying Molecular Markers For Early Detection Of Toxic Cyanobacteria And Dinoflagellate, Shafqat F. Ehsan

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

Harmful algal Blooms (HABs) develop when algal colonies grow out of control, causing toxicity or injury to humans, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and birds. Most HABs of public health concern in saltwater generally are caused by eukaryotic dinoflagellates and diatoms. Prokaryotic cyanobacteria are usually responsible for freshwater blooms although they can contribute to saltwater and brackish blooms too. A common monitoring target of both groups is the saxitoxin-encoding genes. Saxitoxin(STX) is responsible for Paralytic shellfish poisoning, a foodborne illness developed from consumption of STX contaminated shellfish. Each cyanobacterial SXT gene cluster contains a set of core genes, common to all …