PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Cox, Paul Alan
AU  - Banack, Sandra Anne
AU  - Murch, Susan J.
AU  - Rasmussen, Ulla
AU  - Tien, Georgia
AU  - Bidigare, Robert Richard
AU  - Metcalf, James S.
AU  - Morrison, Louise F.
AU  - Codd, Geoffrey A.
AU  - Bergman, Birgitta
TI  - Diverse taxa of cyanobacteria produce β-<em>N</em>-methylamino-<span class="sc">l</span>-alanine, a neurotoxic amino acid
AID  - 10.1073/pnas.0501526102
DP  - 2005 Apr 05
TA  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
PG  - 5074--5078
VI  - 102
IP  - 14
4099  - http://www.pnas.org/content/102/14/5074.short
4100  - http://www.pnas.org/content/102/14/5074.full
SO  - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A2005 Apr 05; 102
AB  - Cyanobacteria can generate molecules hazardous to human health, but production of the known cyanotoxins is taxonomically sporadic. For example, members of a few genera produce hepatotoxic microcystins, whereas production of hepatotoxic nodularins appears to be limited to a single genus. Production of known neurotoxins has also been considered phylogenetically unpredictable. We report here that a single neurotoxin, β-N-methylamino-l-alanine, may be produced by all known groups of cyanobacteria, including cyanobacterial symbionts and free-living cyanobacteria. The ubiquity of cyanobacteria in terrestrial, as well as freshwater, brackish, and marine environments, suggests a potential for wide-spread human exposure.