Toxigenic and Regulatory Effects of Algal Toxins on Marine Life
A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine and Freshwater Toxins".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 382
Special Issue Editor
Interests: Bioactive Metabolites; Chemical Ecology; Infochemicals; Benthic Ecology; Diatom biocompounds; Biotechnology; Cyanobacteria physiology; Model Organisms; plant-animal interactions; Ocean Acidification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Marine micro- and macroalgae are “living laboratories” producing plenty of bioactive compounds, whose identification and exploitation for biotechnological purposes are still in their infancy. In fact, plants have evolved several pathways for the production of secondary metabolites that have demonstrated to be useful for their defense, having deterrent or toxigenic effects. However, the continuous struggle for life has often modified the primary biological activity of these metabolites, thus producing an impressive communication network that combines toxic molecules used as defensive weapons and others with a regulatory function. Understanding the mechanisms of these activities and identifying the biomolecules prompting them may lead to biotechnological applications in various fields, including ecology, medicine, nutraceuticals. In addition, a clear understanding of plant–animal relationships will facilitate conservation activities, also according to the global changes that are influencing the ecology of marine biotas. This Special Issue aims at collecting novel research results on the diversity of bioactive compounds and toxigenic molecules from planktonic and benthic micro- and macroalgae, as well as at detecting key relationships between marine organisms to promote the identification of possible biotechnological applications. In particular, this Special Issue will welcome research papers about:
- Structural characterization of new toxins produced by marine microalgae and macroalgae;
- Structural characterization of regulatory compounds or infochemicals produced by marine microalgae and macroalgae;
- Main pathways of production of toxins and infochemicals from marine diatoms (e.g., oxylipins and lipoxygenase pathways) with special emphasis on newly discovered pathways;
- Main pathways of production of toxins and other bioactive compounds from planktonic microalgae and benthic seaweeds;
- Occurrence and first reports of biocompounds and infochemicals on a global scale and in less studied regions;
- Monitoring programs indicating the effects of algal blooms on marine biota and on human health, along with the identification of the main active compounds;
- Marine plants producers of bioactive compounds and environmental factors influencing their production and activity;
- Novel and improved methods of sampling, extraction, detection, and quantitation of toxigenic compounds (e.g., sensors, LC–MS-based techniques, in vitro bioassays) from marine algae.
Prof. Dr. Valerio Zupo
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Plant-produced biomolecules
- Toxins
- Infochemicals
- Apoptogenic
- Analytical methods
- Environmental changes
- Plant–animal
- Interactions
- Microalgae
- Macroalgae
