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 (2008-2010)
Toward Biological Control of Toxic Algal Blooms: Genetic Characterization of Toxin-producing Cyanobacteria and Their Infecting Viruses in the Klamath River System R/BT-44)
Theo Dreher
Department of Microbiology
Oregon State University
220 Nash Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone: 541-737-1834
Fax: 541-737-0496
E-mail:
theo.dreher@oregonstate.edu
Recent toxic algal blooms in reservoirs behind Klamath River dams have heightened concerns regarding the health of a stressed river with at-risk Chinook salmon runs. Apart from preventing recreational and ceremonial water use for months at a time and potentially contaminating drinking water, toxic blooms significantly affect river life and can poison a range of animals, including fish.
Current studies around the world suggest the need to map the genes of the toxic bloom's cyanobacteria to study bloom dynamics, with a view to bloom control. No such genotypic (DNA sequence) information is available for the Klamath blooms, and very little for any bacterial bloom populations in the western U.S. These cyanobacteria have a worldwide distribution, but there is significant variation between strains that can affect ecological, physiological, and toxin-producing properties.
By genetically characterizing the Klamath toxic bloom cyanobacteria, Dr. Dreher and his team will learn how closely related the endemic strains are to toxin-producing strains that have been extensively studied in other locations. This will help determine how much of the published information on bloom growth dynamics and toxin production from those studies can be applied to understanding the Klamath River blooms and to assessing management options. Dreher's genotype studies will also allow development of methods for monitoring the blooms and will begin to assess the feasibility of biological control with specific viruses to keep the Klamath toxic bloom cyanobacteria in check.
Continuing projects from 2006-2008
Innovative approaches to cultivating symbionts of marine invertebrates (R/BT-42) - Margo Haygood, Environmental and Biomolecular Systems, Oregon Health Sciences University
Former Sea Grant researchers: What they're doing now
- Gregory Rorrer (Plant cell culture)
- Dr. Jo-Ann Leong (Fish immunology)
- Dr. William Gerwick (Marine pharmaceuticals)