Cyanobacteria produce a high variety of hepatotoxic peptides in lichen symbiosis.

ABSTRACT: Lichens are symbiotic associations between fungi and photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria. Microcystins are potent toxins that are responsible for the poisoning of both humans and animals. These toxins are mainly associated with aquatic cyanobacterial blooms, but here we show that the cyanobacterial symbionts of terrestrial lichens from all over the world commonly produce microcystins. We screened 803 lichen specimens from five different continents for cyanobacterial toxins by amplifying a part of the gene cluster encoding the enzyme complex responsible for microcystin production and detecting toxins directly from lichen thalli. We found either the biosynthetic genes for making microcystins or the toxin itself in 12% of all analyzed lichen specimens. A plethora of different microcystins w

SUBMITTER: Kaasalainen U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3326460 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature