Biosynthesis of Guanitoxin Enables Global Environmental Detection in Freshwater Cyanobacteria.
Stella T LimaTimothy R FallonJennifer L CordozaJonathan R ChekanEndrews DelbajeAustin R HopiavuoriDanillo Oliveira AlvarengaSteffaney M WoodHanna LuhavayaJackson T BaumgartnerFelipe A DörrAugusto Etchegaray JuniorErnani PintoShaun M K McKinnieMarli Fatima FioreBradley S MoorePublished in: Journal of the American Chemical Society (2022)
Harmful cyanobacterial blooms (cyanoHABs) cause recurrent toxic events in global watersheds. Although public health agencies monitor the causal toxins of most cyanoHABs and scientists in the field continue developing precise detection and prediction tools, the potent anticholinesterase neurotoxin, guanitoxin, is not presently environmentally monitored. This is largely due to its incompatibility with widely employed analytical methods and instability in the environment, despite guanitoxin being among the most lethal cyanotoxins. Here, we describe the guanitoxin biosynthesis gene cluster and its rigorously characterized nine-step metabolic pathway from l-arginine in the cyanobacterium Sphaerospermopsis torques-reginae ITEP-024. Through environmental sequencing data sets, guanitoxin ( gnt ) biosynthetic genes are repeatedly detected and expressed in municipal freshwater bodies that have undergone past toxic events. Knowledge of the genetic basis of guanitoxin biosynthesis now allows for environmental, biosynthetic gene monitoring to establish the global scope of this neurotoxic organophosphate.
Keyphrases
- genome wide
- public health
- copy number
- genome wide identification
- cell wall
- life cycle
- loop mediated isothermal amplification
- healthcare
- dna methylation
- nitric oxide
- label free
- real time pcr
- electronic health record
- single cell
- genome wide analysis
- transcription factor
- big data
- mass spectrometry
- anti inflammatory
- liquid chromatography
- bioinformatics analysis
- global health