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Microalgae for Human Nutrition
Published in Gokare A. Ravishankar, Ranga Rao Ambati, Handbook of Algal Technologies and Phytochemicals, 2019
Mariana F.G. Assuncao, Ana Paula Batista, Raquel Amaral, Lília M.A. Santos
The former Regulation (EC) No. 258/97 (European Commission 1997), referring to the authorization of novel foods and novel food ingredients, has been recently revised and replaced by the Regulation (EU) No. 201 5/2283 (European Union 2015) which is applicable since 1 January 2018. A novel food is defined as food that has not been consumed to any significant degree in the EU before 15 May 1997 (when the first novel food legislation came into force). Arthrospira (Spirulina) and Chlorella, which have been widely consumed since ancient times, do not fall under the novel food status and thus can be freely commercialized as a food ingredient. This is also applicable to a filamentous blue-green alga from Klamath Lake (Oregon, United States), Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, although some concerns regarding the potential toxicity of this natural bloom species have been raised (e.g. Niccolai et al., 2017; Roy-Lachapelle et al., 2017; Lyon-Colbert et al., 2018). In Australia, A. flos-aquae was considered as novel food, and safety assessments were required due to the potential presence of cyanobacterial toxins such as microcystins and nodularin (FSANZ 2016).
An overview on cyanobacterial blooms and toxins production: their occurrence and influencing factors
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2022
Isaac Yaw Massey, Muwaffak Al osman, Fei Yang
Nodularin is a group of cyclic pentapeptide hepatotoxin that consists of five variable amino acids. Nodularin mostly produced by Nodularia spumigena, Nostoc and Iningainema (Scytonemataceae) are widely disseminated around the subtropical and temperate regions, and are primarily found in coastal sea and freshwater (McGregor and Sendall 2017). The chemical structure of nodularin molecule is cyclo-(D-MeAsp1-L-Arg2-Adda3-DGlu4-Mdhb5), where Mdhb is 2-(methylamino)-2-dehydrobutyric acid (Buratti et al.2017). At present, approximately 10 variants of nodularin have been discovered, among which NOD-R is the most abundant (Spoof and Catherine 2017). The toxic consequences including liver functional disturbance and structural disruption induced by nodularin are due to its ability to inhibit PP1, PP2A and PP3 (Dawson 1998). Nodularins have globally been found (Chorus and Bartram 1999), and reported to be responsible for the deaths of animals and potent cyanotoxin in humans, however, the hazard of these toxins to humans has not been fully elucidated (Chen et al.2013). Although this cyanotoxin is considered as a liver tumor initiator and promoter, the IARC has not classified it as part of human carcinogenicity due to inadequate exposure data (IARC 2010). It is of interest that no guidelines have been set for nodularins. Therefore evaluating the toxicity of nodularins is estimated from microcystins, which have been demonstrated to have similar toxic mechanism (Pearson et al.2010).