The tools and techniques of biotechnology are teaching us more about how aquatic plants and animals survive, and that knowledge could bring safer seafood, healthier fish and even cures for human disease.
Related Accomplishments
National Sea Grant biotechnology page
Research:
Biotechnology
Current projects (2006-2008)
- Innovative Approaches to Cultivating Symbionts of Marine Invertebrates
- Uptake and Metabolism of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons by Tissue Cultures of Marine Seaweeds
Innovative Approaches to Cultivating Symbionts of Marine Invertebrates (R/BT-42)
Margo G. Haygood
Department of Environmental and Biomolecular Systems
Oregon Health and Science University
OGI School of Science and Engineering
20000 NW Walker Rd.
Beaverton, OR 97006
Phone: 858-534-5987
Fax: 858-822-5839
E-mail:
mhaygood@ucsd.edu
Species that must exist in symbiosis with one another in order to grow and reproduce are called obligate symbionts. The key characteristic of obligate symbionts is their lack of adaptability to changes in the environment. Thus, when preparing samples of obligate symbionts for research, care must be taken at every step to evaluate their survival and viability.
The objective of this study is to cultivate symbiotic bacteria from four different types of marine invertebrates. Sensitive and specific methods of detection and quantification of symbionts, based on rRNA gene sequences and viability stains, will be used to evaluate methods of sample preparation and incubation conditions. The bacterial isolates will be used to understand biosynthesis of valuable marine bioactive compounds and to develop new marine drugs.
Uptake and Metabolism of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons by Tissue Cultures of Marine Seaweeds (R/BET-02)
Gregory Rorrer
Department of Chemical Engineering
Oregon State University
305 Gleeson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone: 541-737-3370
Fax: 541-737-4600
E-mail: r
orrergl@engr.orst.edu
Significant environmental issues are associated with the contamination of the marine environment by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The goal of this project is to characterize the capacity of tissue cultures of marine seaweeds to degrade PAH compounds. The researcher has discovered that tissue culture derived from the tropical red alga Portieria hornemannii removes the toxic polyaromatic hydrocarbon phenanthrene from seawater. Current work is directed toward determining if the phenanthrene is simply concentrated in the algal biomass or metabolized into other compounds. First results strongly suggest that marine seaweeds have the capacity to take up polyaromatic compounds.
Former Sea Grant researchers: What they're doing now
- Dr. Jo-Ann Leong (Fish immunology)
- Dr. William Gerwick (Marine pharmaceuticals)