Origin determination of the Eastern oyster () using a combination of whole-body compound-specific isotope analysis and heavy metal analysis

• Published in: Analytical methods 2021-08, Vol.13 (31), p.3493-353
• Main Authors: Matos, Mayara P. V, Engel, Marc E, Mangrum, John B, Jackson, Glen P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino acids; Cadmium; Coastal waters; Crassostrea virginica; Discriminant analysis; Ecological research; Emission spectroscopy; Fisheries; Fisheries management; Food safety; Forensic science; Glycine; Heavy metals; Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; Isotope ratios; Lysine; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Multivariate analysis; Multivariate statistical analysis; Oysters; Phenylalanine; Provenance; Scientific imaging; Serine; Soft tissues; Stable isotopes; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Statistics; Trace elements; Valine; Wildlife; Wildlife management
• ISSN: 1759-9660; 1759-9679
• DOI: 10.1039/d1ay00755f

Various samples of the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica , were collected from five harvest bay areas in the Gulf of Mexico coastal waters of Florida (FL), Louisiana (LA) and Texas (TX). Cadmium and lead concentrations from the extracted whole-body soft tissues were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and bulk δ 13 C and δ 15 N isotope ratios and amino-acid-specific δ 13 C values were analyzed via isotope ratio mass-spectrometry (IRMS). The combined data was subjected to multivariate statistical analysis to assess whether oysters could be linked to their harvest area. Results indicate that discriminant analysis using the δ 13 C values of five amino acids-serine, glycine, valine, lysine and phenylalanine-could discriminate oysters from two adjacent harvesting in Florida with 90% success rate, using leave-one-out cross validation. The combination of trace elements and isotope ratios could also predict geographic provenance of oysters with a success rate superior to the isolated use of each technique. The combinatory approach proposed in this study is a proof-of-concept that compound specific stable isotope analysis is a potential tool for oyster fisheries managers, wildlife, and food safety enforcement officers, as well as to forensics and ecology research areas, although significantly more work would need to be completed to fully validate the approach and achieve more reliable statistical results. A combination of amino-acid-specific isotope ratio mass spectrometry and ICP-MS of lead and cadmium helped discriminate the harvesting areas of the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica , within the Gulf of Mexico.