Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Berntzon L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3766884 | biostudies-other | 2013 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Marine drugs 20130821 8
Cyanobacteria produce a range of secondary metabolites, one being the neurotoxic non-protein amino acid β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), proposed to be a causative agent of human neurodegeneration. As for most cyanotoxins, the function of BMAA in cyanobacteria is unknown. Here, we examined the effects of BMAA on the physiology of the filamentous nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. PCC 7120. Our data show that exogenously applied BMAA rapidly inhibits nitrogenase activity (acetylene reduct ...[more]