A specific quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) method was developed for the quantification of hepatotoxin nodularin-producing Nodularia, one of the main bloom-forming cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea. Specific PCR primers were designed for subunit F of the nodularin synthetase gene (ndaF), which encodes the NdaF subunit of the nodularin synthetase gene complex needed for nodularin production. The ...

Nodularin is a hepatotoxin produced by the bloom-forming cyanobacterial species Nodularia spumigena. Putative peptide synthetase and polyketide synthase genes were detected in toxic strains of Nodularia by degenerate PCR. Using specific primer sets, peptide synthetase and polyketide synthase gene homologues were detected in nodularin-producing strains indicating a possible role of peptide synth...

Fish collected after a mass mortality at an artificial lake in south-east Queensland, Australia, were examined for the presence of nodularin as the lake had earlier been affected by a Nodularia bloom. Methanol extracts of muscle, liver, peritoneal and stomach contents were analysed by HPLC and tandem mass spectrometry; histological examination was conducted on livers from captured mullet. Liver...

In late summer, nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria Nodularia spumigena and Aphanizomenon flos-aquae form blooms in the open Baltic Sea. N. spumigena has caused several animal poisonings, but Baltic A. flos-aquae is not known to be toxic. In this laboratory study, performed with batch cultures, the influences of environmental conditions on the biomass and nitrogen fixation rate of N. spumigena and A....

The cyanobacterial toxins, nodularin and microcystin, are highly efficient inhibitors of cellular protein phosphatases. Toxicity primarily evolves following ingestion of cyanobacterial material or toxins and results in liver and renal pathology. Ingestion is the main route of exposure in the World Health Organizations current risk assessment of nodularin and microcystins. Nasally applied microc...

Apoptotic cell death is induced in primary hepatocytes by the Ser/Thr protein phosphatase inhibiting cyanobacterial toxin nodularin after only minutes of exposure. Nodularin-induced apoptosis involves a rapid development of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can be delayed by the Ca2+/calmodulin protein kinase II inhibitor KN93. This apoptosis model provides us with a unique population of hig...

Cyanobacterial hepatotoxins present a risk to public health when present in drinking water supplies. Existing removal strategies, although efficient, are not economically viable or practical for remote Australian communities and developing nations. Bank filtration is a natural process and a potential low cost, toxin removal strategy. Batch studies were conducted in 12 texturally diverse soils t...

Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the efficacy of two cyanobacterial toxins (microcystin and nodularin) against the different larval instars, pupal and adult stages of Anopheles multicolor. Experiments were carried out in plastic cups, and the two toxins were tested at four concentrations, where the LC10, LC25, LC50 and LC90 for the first instar larvae under laboratory conditio...

Okadaic acid (OA) and microcystin (MC) as well as several other microbial toxins like nodularin and calyculinA are known as tumor promoters as well as inducers of apoptotic cell death. Their intracellular targets are the major serine/threonine protein phosphatases. This review summarizes mechanisms believed to be responsible for the death induction and tumor promotion with focus on the interdep...

Microcystins and nodularin are potent hepatotoxins produced by fresh and seawater cyanobacteria. The persistence of three hepatotoxins – microcystin-LR, microcystin-RR and nodularin – was investigated in sterile BG-11 medium of different salinity and in water collected from the Gulf of Gdańsk. After 21 days of incubation at 17± 1◦C and constant illumination of about 40 μmol photon m−2 s−1 the c...