Isolation and Identification of proteins in Heterosigma akashiwo

Many algal species can form blooms, commonly referred to as tides. Most of these blooms are harmless, but a few species of phytoplankton are toxic to marine ecosystems, which form harmful algal (or HAB). Heterosigma akashiwo is known as one of HAB-generating species.1)2) In order to find the mechanisms of H. akashiwo to generate red tide, proteomiccomparison between the two different states (before and after bloom formation) was performed to identify up-regulated pathways in the HAB state. From the proteomics experiments, it was found that a series of spots with low pIs were appeared as bloom formed. We are in the process of identifying these spots through MALDI-TOF.3)4)