Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

We are requesting a gas chromatograph (GC), which is a sophisticated analytical tool used to measure organic compounds in sample extracts. We propose to use this instrument to measure compounds that are critical in marine food webs, aquaculture, and in identifying marine organisms including those that are toxic. We will determine fatty acids including essential omega-3 fatty acids, sterols including cholesterol, and lipid classes using a novel lipid profiling procedure we are developing. This instrument will replace our 16 year old NSERC-funded GC that has broken down beyond repair. The model chosen and its configuration will be such as to allow us to also expand into two new, important areas of research: amino acids and lipid oxidation products. There is considerable and growing interest in the importance of dietary lipids and amino acids in marine ecosystems and aquaculture, as well as in the use of marine lipids as biomarkers. Marine lipids comprise several lipid classes with considerable differences both in structure and function. The differences in structure permit their use as biomarkers. In the biomarker approach, certain signature compounds are used to integrate biological, physical and chemical parameters that define the status of an ecosystem. Using these compounds we can quantify inputs of essential nutrients and of deleterious compounds and we can trace their pathways. The GC will support several projects wherein our task is to determine lipid compounds and amino acids that are either critical to animal growth or that can be used as markers of processes occurring in the marine environment. Some very important marker or signature compounds we are working on are ones that may be used as an early warning of harmful algal blooms. We also propose to develop methods for toxic lipid oxidation products. Such compounds are often structurally quite complex and are present at very low levels, hence the use of sophisticated analytical equipment is required for their determination. Measurement of lipids, lipid oxidation products and amino acids in Newfoundland food webs is timely given the continuing problems with the ground fishery, interest in new fishery species, and the increasing level of aquaculture in this area. This instrument will provide data that are critical to the nutritional management of finfish and bivalve broodstock and larvae in Canadian aquaculture.