Nodularia species

Cyanobacterial (Blue-Green Bacteria) Toxins. Cyanobacterial poisonings were first recognized in the late 1800s. Human poisonings are rare however, kills of livestock, other mammals, birds, fish, and aquatic invertebrates are common. It is caused by a variety of biotoxins and cytotoxins, including anatoxin, microcystin, and nodularin produced by several species of cyanobacteria, including Anabaena, Aphanizomenon, Nodularia, Oscillatoria, and Microcystis. The main contamination problems include all eutrophic freshwater rivers, lakes, and streams. 

Microcystins and Nodularins Mieroeystins (MC) are widely distributed eyanotoxins, and have often been implicated in aeeidental human and animal poisonings. They are produeed by several genera, including the planktonic Microcystis, Planktothrix, Anabaena species, and the benthic Oscillatoria. Nodularins are only produced by the species Nodularia spumigena, whieh occurs in brackish waters, essentially in the Baltie Sea, Australia, and New Zealand. 

There are at least 12 different species of cyanobacteria that have been shown to produce toxins, often several different toxins per species. The main toxin-producing species include Anabaena, Aphanizome-non, Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, Gloeotrichia, Hapalosiphon, Lyngbia, Nodularia, Nostoc, Oscil-latoria, Schizothrix, Spirulina, Synechocystis, and Microcystis. 

Cyanobacteria known to produce hepatotoxins include species of Microcystis (32-36), Anabaena (37-40), Nostoc (41,42), Oscillatoria (43,44) and the brackish water Nodularia spumigena (45,46). These cyanobacteria produce a wide range of toxins including neurotoxic alkaloids, lipopolysaccharides, phenolic compounds and most importantly, the cyclic hepatotoxic peptides microcystins and nodularins. Since both microcystins and nodularins were recently discovered even in shellfish (47) and tropical fish species (48), and a nodularin variant was isolated in Papua New Guinea also from the tropical marine sponge Theonella swinhoei (49), marine prokaryotes are apparently producing identical toxins as the cyanobacteria. However, since this nodularin variant was isolated from a marine sponge it may well be produced by a microbial symbiont. 

The Caspian Sea is a land-locked sea between Asia and Europe. It is the largest inland water body in the world. It covers a surface area more than 370,000 km, reaches a maximum depth of about 1000 m An algal bloom happened in the Caspian Sea on August 2005 in the southern part of Caspian Sea and it disappeared in October 2005. The sampling and analysis of species in the algal bloom showed that the bloom is related to toxic specie of the Cyanobacteria (Blue-green algae) which is named Nodularia. 

Bacteria and protozoa in water can produce toxins that can cause illness or even death. Toxins prodnced in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs by cyanobacteria including Anabaena, Microcystis, and Nodularia have cansed adverse health effects in Australia, Brazil, England, and elsewhere in the world. There are abont 40 species of cyanobacteria that produce toxins from six chemical gronps. Cylindrospermopsin toxin (below) prodnced by cyanobacteria has poisoned people who have con-snmed water contaminated by the toxin. Surface scums of cyanobacteria are likely to have especially high levels of cyanobacteria toxins. 

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