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Schrader A. Responding to Pfiesteria piscicida (the fish killer): phantomatic ontologies, indeterminacy, and responsibility in toxic microbiology. SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE 2010; 40:275-306. [PMID: 20527323 DOI: 10.1177/0306312709344902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Based on an analysis of an ongoing scientific-political controversy over the toxicity of a fish-killing microorganism, this paper explores the relationship between responsibility and nonhuman contributions to agency in experimental practices. Research into the insidious effects of the dinoflagellates Pfiesteria piscicida (the fish killer) that thrive in waters over-enriched with nutrients, has received considerable attention by both the media and government agencies concerned with public and environmental health. After nearly two decades of research, the question of whether Pfiesteria can be regarded the 'causative agent' of massive fish kills in the estuaries of the US mid-Atlantic could not be scientifically settled. In contrast to policymakers, who attribute the absence of a scientific consensus to gaps in scientific knowledge and uncertainties regarding the identity and behavior of the potentially toxic dinoflagellates, I propose that an inseparable entanglement of Pfiesteria's identities and their toxic activities challenges conventional notions of causality that seek to establish a connection between independent events in linear time. Building on Karen Barad's framework of agential realism, I argue for a move from epistemological uncertainties to ontological indeterminacies that follow from Pfiesteria's contributions to agency, as the condition for responsible and objective science. In tracking discrepant experimental enactments of Pfiesteria that have been mobilized as evidence for and against their toxicity, I investigate how criteria for what counts as evidence get built into the experimental apparatuses and suggest that the joint possibilities of causality and responsibility vary with the temporalities of the objects enacted. This discussion seeks to highlight a thorough entanglement of epistemic/ontological concerns with the ecological/political relevance of particular experiments. Finally, I introduce a new kind of scientific object that--borrowing from Derrida--I call phantomatic. Phantoms don't emerge as such, but appear as traces and are associated with specific matters of concern.
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Small HJ, Shields JD, Haas LW, Vogelbein WK, Moss J, Reece KS. GENETIC VARIATION AMONG STRAINS OF PSEUDOPFIESTERIA SHUMWAYAE AND PFIESTERIA PISCICIDA (DINOPHYCEAE)(1). JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY 2009; 45:1315-1322. [PMID: 27032589 DOI: 10.1111/j.1529-8817.2009.00754.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The putatively toxic dinoflagellates Pseudopfiesteria shumwayae (Glasgow et J. M. Burkh.) Litaker, Steid., P. L. Mason, Shields et P. A. Tester and Pfiesteria piscicida Steid. et J. M. Burkh. have been implicated in massive fish kills and of having negative impacts on human health along the mid-Atlantic seaboard of the USA. Considerable debate still remains as to the mechanisms responsible for fish mortality (toxicity vs. micropredation) caused by these dinoflagellates. Genetic differences among these cultures have not been adequately investigated and may account for or correlate with phenotypic variability among strains within each species. Genetic variation among strains of Ps. shumwayae and P. piscicida was examined by PCR-RFLP analysis using cultures obtained from the Provasoli-Guillard National Center for Culture of Marine Phytoplankton (CCMP), as well as those from our own and other colleagues' collection efforts. Examination of restriction digest banding profiles for 22 strains of Ps. shumwayae revealed the presence of 10 polymorphic restriction endonuclease sites within the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) and the 5.8S gene of the rDNA complex, and the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Three compound genotypes were represented within the 22 Ps. shumwayae strains. Conversely, PCR-RFLP examination of 14 strains of P. piscicida at the same ITS1, 5.8S, and ITS2 regions revealed only one variable restriction endonuclease site, located in the ITS1 region. In addition, a dinoflagellate culture listed as P. piscicida (CCMP 1928) and analyzed as part of this study was identified as closely related to Luciella masanensis P. L. Mason, H. J. Jeong, Litaker, Reece et Steid.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamish J Small
- Department of Environmental & Aquatic Animal Health, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary, P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, Virginia, 23062-1346, USA
| | - Jeffrey D Shields
- Department of Environmental & Aquatic Animal Health, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary, P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, Virginia, 23062-1346, USA
| | - Leonard W Haas
- Department of Environmental & Aquatic Animal Health, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary, P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, Virginia, 23062-1346, USA
| | - Wolfgang K Vogelbein
- Department of Environmental & Aquatic Animal Health, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary, P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, Virginia, 23062-1346, USA
| | - Jessica Moss
- Department of Environmental & Aquatic Animal Health, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary, P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, Virginia, 23062-1346, USA
| | - Kimberly S Reece
- Department of Environmental & Aquatic Animal Health, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary, P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, Virginia, 23062-1346, USA
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Logares R, Daugbjerg N, Boltovskoy A, Kremp A, Laybourn-Parry J, Rengefors K. Recent evolutionary diversification of a protist lineage. Environ Microbiol 2008; 10:1231-43. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2007.01538.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Touzet N, Franco JM, Raine R. Characterization of nontoxic and toxin-producing strains of Alexandrium minutum (Dinophyceae) in Irish coastal waters. Appl Environ Microbiol 2007; 73:3333-42. [PMID: 17337562 PMCID: PMC1907102 DOI: 10.1128/aem.02161-06] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2006] [Accepted: 02/19/2007] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
A comparative analysis of the morphology, toxin composition, and ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences was performed on a suite of clonal cultures of the potentially toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum Halim. These were established from resting cysts or vegetative cells isolated from sediment and water samples taken from the south and west coasts of Ireland. Results revealed that strains were indistinguishable, both morphologically and through the sequencing of the D1-D2 domain of the large subunit and the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 regions of the rDNA. High-performance liquid chromatography fluorescence detection analysis, however, showed that only strains derived from retentive inlets on the southern Irish coast synthesized paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins (GTX2 and GTX3), whereas all strains of A. minutum isolated from the west coast were nontoxic. Toxin analysis of net hauls, taken when A. minutum vegetative cells were in the water column, revealed no PSP toxins in samples from Killary Harbor (western coast), whereas GTX2 and GTX3 were detected in samples from Cork Harbor (southern coast). These results confirm the identity of A. minutum as the most probable causative organism for historical occurrences of contamination of shellfish with PSP toxins in Cork Harbor. Finally, random amplification of polymorphic DNA was carried out to determine the degree of polymorphism among strains. The analysis showed that all toxic strains from Cork Harbor clustered together and that a separate cluster grouped all nontoxic strains from the western coast.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Cluster Analysis
- DNA Fingerprinting
- DNA, Protozoan/chemistry
- DNA, Protozoan/genetics
- DNA, Ribosomal/chemistry
- DNA, Ribosomal/genetics
- DNA, Ribosomal Spacer
- Dinoflagellida/classification
- Dinoflagellida/cytology
- Dinoflagellida/isolation & purification
- Dinoflagellida/physiology
- Genes, rRNA
- Genetic Variation
- Ireland
- Marine Toxins/biosynthesis
- Microscopy, Fluorescence
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Phylogeny
- Polymorphism, Genetic
- RNA, Ribosomal, 28S/genetics
- RNA, Ribosomal, 5.8S/genetics
- Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique
- Seawater/microbiology
- Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
- Water Microbiology
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Touzet
- The Martin Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
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Logares R, Rengefors K, Kremp A, Shalchian-Tabrizi K, Boltovskoy A, Tengs T, Shurtleff A, Klaveness D. Phenotypically different microalgal morphospecies with identical ribosomal DNA: a case of rapid adaptive evolution? MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2007; 53:549-61. [PMID: 17410396 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-006-9088-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2006] [Accepted: 04/23/2006] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
The agents driving the divergence and speciation of free-living microbial populations are still largely unknown. We investigated the dinoflagellate morphospecies Scrippsiella hangoei and Peridinium aciculiferum, which abound in the Baltic Sea and in northern temperate lakes, respectively. Electron microscopy analyses showed significant interspecific differences in the external cellular morphology, but a similar plate pattern in the characteristic dinoflagellate armor. Experimentally, S. hangoei grew in a wide range of salinities (0-30), whereas P. aciculiferum only grew in low salinities (0-3). Despite these phenotypic differences and the habitat segregation, molecular analyses showed identical ribosomal DNA sequences (ITS1, ITS2, 5.8S, SSU, and partial LSU) for both morphospecies. Yet, a strong interspecific genetic isolation was indicated by amplified fragment length polymorphism (F (ST) = 0.76) and cytochrome b (cob) sequence divergence ( approximately 1.90%). Phylogenetic reconstructions based on ribosomal (SSU, LSU) and mitochondrial (cob) DNA indicated a recent marine ancestor for P. aciculiferum. In conclusion, we suggest that the lacustrine P. aciculiferum and the marine-brackish S. hangoei diverged very recently, after a marine-freshwater transition that exposed the ancestral populations to different selective pressures. This hypothetical scenario agrees with mounting data indicating a significant role of natural selection in the divergence of free-living microbes, despite their virtually unrestricted dispersal capabilities. Finally, our results indicate that identical ITS rDNA sequences do not necessarily imply the same microbial species, as commonly assumed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ramiro Logares
- Limnology Division, Ecology Department, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
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Morris JG, Grattan LM, Wilson LA, Meyer WA, McCarter R, Bowers HA, Hebel JR, Matuszak DL, Oldach DW. Occupational exposure to pfiesteria species in estuarine waters is not a risk factor for illness. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES 2006; 114:1038-43. [PMID: 16835056 PMCID: PMC1513342 DOI: 10.1289/ehp.8627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Exposure to the dinoflagellate Pfiesteria has, under certain circumstances, been associated with deficits in human learning and memory. However, uncertainties remain about the health risk of chronic, low-level exposures (as seen among occupationally exposed commercial fishermen), particularly in light of studies suggesting that Pfiesteria strains are widespread in the estuarine environment in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region. METHODS We selected an initial cohort of 152 persons, including 123 persons with regular, occupational exposure to the Chesapeake Bay ; 107 of the cohort members were followed for the full four summer "seasons" of the study. Cohort members were questioned biweekly about symptoms, and data were collected about the areas of the bay in which they worked. These latter data were matched with data on the presence or absence of Pfiesteria in each area, based on polymerase chain reaction analysis of > 3,500 water samples. Cohort members underwent neuropsychological testing at the beginning and end of each summer season. RESULTS No correlation was found between work in an area where Pfiesteria was identified and specific symptomatology or changes on neuropsychological tests. CONCLUSIONS Although high-level or outbreak-associated exposure to Pfiesteria species (or specific strains within a species) may have an effect on health, routine occupational exposure to estuarine environments in which these organisms are present does not appear to pose a significant health risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Glenn Morris
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
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Rublee PA, Remington DL, Schaefer EF, Marshall MM. Detection of the Dinozoans Pfiesteria piscicida and P. shumwayae: A Review of Detection Methods and Geographic Distribution1. J Eukaryot Microbiol 2005; 52:83-9. [PMID: 15817112 DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2005.05202007.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Molecular methods, including conventional PCR, real-time PCR, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, fluorescent fragment detection PCR, and fluorescent in situ hybridization, have all been developed for use in identifying and studying the distribution of the toxic dinoflagellates Pfiesteria piscicida and P. shumwayae. Application of the methods has demonstrated a worldwide distribution of both species and provided insight into their environmental tolerance range and temporal changes in distribution. Genetic variability among geographic locations generally appears low in rDNA genes, and detection of the organisms in ballast water is consistent with rapid dispersal or high gene flow among populations, but additional sequence data are needed to verify this hypothesis. The rapid development and application of these tools serves as a model for study of other microbial taxa and provides a basis for future development of tools that can simultaneously detect multiple targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parke A Rublee
- Biology Department, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, PO Box 26170, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402-6170, USA.
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