And when mixed with chips and sauce, it is also a great source of happiness.
Now, University of Otago chemistry researcher Dr Nicholas Green has received a $2million research grant from the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) to investigate the mysteries of fish toxins, which could be used to cure diseases.
Dr Green’s team of chemistry, marine biology and molecular science experts is one of only six in the world to receive the prestigious three-year international science grant that supports bold, interdisciplinary life science research.
The grant will allow the team to study the genomics, biosynthesis, physiology and chemical synthesis of a little-known family of ichthyotoxins — toxic molecules produced by fish.
‘‘Given that most of us eat fish, it’s important that we know about these toxins.
‘‘But it also turns out that fish toxins include some of the most interesting, confusing chemical structures known to science.
‘‘Figuring out how and why certain fish make them is so challenging that it forces us to come up with innovative new hypotheses and techniques.’’
By combining these areas of expertise, the team will study several different species of fish, in a bid to uncover how the natural products are made, what roles they play in ecosystems, and whether similar compounds exist more broadly in nature.
‘‘If we are successful in our aims of deciphering this unknown biology and chemistry, we will not only have catalogued something not previously understood about our world, but may also have opportunities to translate that knowledge into advances in chemistry, biotechnology and medicine.
‘‘In terms of the medical context, there’s a lot of mystery around why the particular fish in this case have this natural product present in their tissue.
‘‘And so one of the possible answers for that is to ward off predators, or perhaps to ward off certain types of micro-organisms.
‘‘That’s where it starts to potentially overlap with medicine, where if you have this natural product that has a biological activity, then once we understand the chemical basis for that biological activity, we can perhaps use it to treat certain types of diseases — maybe even cancer, for example.
‘‘It’s a very exciting project,’’ he said.
Dr Green was secretive about what sort of fish they were studying, but said they were all from the Pacific Ocean, and some of the species were ones that were eaten by humans.
