Institute of Pharmacy, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
Science. 2021 Mar 26;371(6536). doi: 10.1126/science.aax9050.
Vacuolar myelinopathy is a fatal neurological disease that was initially discovered during a mysterious mass mortality of bald eagles in Arkansas in the United States. The cause of this wildlife disease has eluded scientists for decades while its occurrence has continued to spread throughout freshwater reservoirs in the southeastern United States. Recent studies have demonstrated that vacuolar myelinopathy is induced by consumption of the epiphytic cyanobacterial species growing on aquatic vegetation, primarily the invasive Here, we describe the identification, biosynthetic gene cluster, and biological activity of aetokthonotoxin, a pentabrominated biindole alkaloid that is produced by the cyanobacterium We identify this cyanobacterial neurotoxin as the causal agent of vacuolar myelinopathy and discuss environmental factors-especially bromide availability-that promote toxin production.
空泡性脑脊髓病是一种致命的神经疾病，最初是在美国阿肯色州神秘的白头鹰大规模死亡事件中发现的。几十年来，这种野生动物疾病的病因一直困扰着科学家，而其发生范围仍在继续蔓延至美国东南部的淡水水库。最近的研究表明，空泡性脑脊髓病是由摄入水生植物上的附生蓝细菌物种引起的，主要是入侵性 在这里，我们描述了 pentabrominated biindole 生物碱 aetokthonotoxin 的鉴定、生物合成基因簇和生物活性，该生物碱由蓝细菌 我们将这种蓝细菌神经毒素鉴定为空泡性脑脊髓病的致病因子，并讨论了促进毒素产生的环境因素，特别是溴化物的可用性。
