Use of a rapid bioluminescence assay for detecting cyanobacterial microcystin toxicity

The recent rise in the awareness of the occurrence of toxic cyanobacterial blooms in aquatic environments, with associated human health problems and animal deaths, has increased the need for rapid, reliable and sensitive methods of determining cyanobacterial toxicity. A luminescent bacterial toxicity test was assessed as a complement to the established mouse bioassay. Seventeen samples including pure cyanobacterial microcystin-LR hepatotoxin, laboratory isolates and natural blooms of cyanobacteria were tested and toxicity data compared with mouse LD50 values. Microcystin-LR and all five microcystin-containing cyanobacterial samples, hepatotoxic by mouse test gave EC50 values of less than 0.46 mg/ml in bioluminescence-based Microtox assays. Of 11 samples non-toxic by mouse bioassay, only two gave an EC50 of less than 0.98 mg/ml by bioluminescence assay. It is suggested that the Microtox bioluminescence assay may prove useful in the preliminary screening of cyanobacterial blooms for microcystin-based toxicity.

The ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase of Prochlorothrix hollandica: purification, subunit structure and partial N-terminal sequence analysis of the large subunit

Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase was purified to apparent homogeneity from the carboxysomes of Prochlorothrix hollandica. The MW of the native enzyme was estimated to be 560,000 Dalton, comprising large subunits (LSU) of 57,000 Dalton and small subunits (SSU) of 13,000, probably in an 8LSU8SSU quaternary structure. Enzyme activity was maximal at pH 8.0 at 30 degrees C. The requirement of activity for Mg2+ could not be replaced by Mn2+. Co2+, Ca2+ or Cu2+. Amino acid N-terminal sequence analysis of the LSU showed a high degree of conservation when compared to cyanobacterial and chloroplast LSU sequences but was too short to allow a reliable phylogenetic assignment of P. hollandica.

Cyanobacterial microcystin-LR is a potent and specific inhibitor of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A from both mammals and higher plants

The cyclic heptapeptide, microcystin-LR, inhibits protein phosphatases 1 (PP1) and 2A (PP2A) with Ki values below 0.1 nM. Protein phosphatase 2B is inhibited 1000-fold less potently, while six other phosphatases and eight protein kinases tested are unaffected. These results are strikingly similar to those obtained with the tumour promoter okadaic acid. We establish that okadaic acid prevents the binding of microcystin-LR to PP2A, and that protein inhibitors 1 and 2 prevent the binding of microcystin-LR to PP1. We discuss the possibility that inhibition of PP1 and PP2A accounts for the extreme toxicity of microcystin-LR, and indicate its potential value in the detection and analysis of protein kinases and phosphatases.

Rapid microfilament reorganization induced in isolated rat hepatocytes by microcystin-LR, a cyclic peptide toxin

The cyclic heptapeptide hepatotoxin microcystin-LR from the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa induces rapid and characteristic deformation of isolated rat hepatocytes. We investigated the mechanism(s) responsible for cell shape changes (blebbing). Our results show that the onset of blebbing was accompanied neither by alteration in intracellular thiol and Ca2+ homeostasis nor by ATP depletion. The irreversible effects were insensitive to protease and phospholipase inhibitors and also to thiol-reducing agents, excluding the involvement of enhanced proteolysis, phospholipid hydrolysis, and thiol modification in microcystin-induced blebbing. In contrast, the cell shape changes were associated with a remarkable reorganization of microfilaments as visualized both by electron microscopy and by fluorescent staining of actin with rhodamine-conjugated phalloidin. The morphological effects and the microfilament reorganization were specific for microcystin-LR and could not be induced by the microfilament-modifying drugs cytochalasin D or phalloidin. Using inhibition of deoxyribonuclease I as an assay for monomeric actin, we found that the microcystin-induced reorganization of hepatocyte microfilaments was not due to actin polymerization. On the basis of the rapid microfilament reorganization and the specificity of the effects, it is suggested that microcystin-LR constitutes a novel microfilament-perturbing drug with features that are clearly different from those of cytochalasin D and phalloidin.

Structural characterization of toxic cyclic peptides from blue-green algae by tandem mass spectrometry

Combined use of chemical degradation, derivatization, and tandem mass spectrometry for rapid structural characterization of toxic cyclic peptides from blue-green algae at the nanomole level is described. Previously, all blue-green algal toxins were thought to belong to a family of seven-residue cyclic peptides, having the general structure cyclo-D-Ala-L-Xaa-erythro-beta-methyl-D-isoaspartic acid-L-Yaa-Adda-D-isoglutamic acid-N-methyldehydroalanine, where Xaa and Yaa represent variable amino acids of the L configuration and Adda is 3-amino-9-methoxy-2,6,8-trimethyl-10-phenyl-deca-4,6-dienoic acid. Structural characterization of two additional toxins indicates that further variability can exist within this family of naturally occurring toxic cyclic peptides. Isoaspartic acid and dehydroalanine can substitute for beta-methylisoaspartic acid and N-methyldehydroalanine, respectively.

Insertion sequence IS2 in the cyanobacterium Chlorogloeopsis fritschii

A cloned DNA fragment, previously demonstrated to encode ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) of Chlorogloeopsis fritschii strain CCAP1411/1b, is shown also to include the entire transposable element, IS2, normally a resident in the Escherichia coli genome. Southern-blot hybridisation experiments confirm the presence of IS2 in the C. fritschii genome. This finding adds a new and unrelated species to the known host range of this element and provides evidence of genetic transfer between the Gram-negative E. coli and cyanobacteria. This may also have significance in relation to the nucleotide sequence rearrangements known to occur adjacent to RuBisCO and nif genes in other nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria.

Immunocytochemical Localization of Phosphoribulose Kinase in the Cyanelles of Cyanophora paradoxa and Glaucocystis nostochinearum

The distribution of phosphoribulose kinase (PRK) in the cyanelles of Cyanophora paradoxa Korschikoff and Glaucocystis nostochinearum Itzigsohn was studied by protein A-gold immunoelectron microscopy. In both endocyanomes, antiserum against PRK heavily labeled the thylakoid region of the cyanelles, whereas little or no label was present over the carboxysomes. Antiserum against ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase by contrast heavily labeled the carboxysomes of each endocyanome. In vitro studies of PRK distribution in cell-free extracts of C. paradoxa showed that 93% of the enzyme was in the soluble fraction. Quantitative immunoelectron microscopy showed that more than 99% of the PRK in the cyanelle of C. paradoxa was localized in the thylakoid region. We conclude that the carboxysomes of cyanelles like the carboxysomes of autotrophic prokaryotes and the pyrenoids of green algal chloroplasts do not contain phosphoribulose kinase.

Enzymes and genes of microbial autotrophy

Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase and phosphoribulokinase are enzymes which are unique to, and essential for, the operation of the Calvin cycle. Biochemical and genetic studies of these enzymes in autotrophic bacteria are providing information on the evolution of autotrophy, regulation of CO2 assimilation and on the prospects of increasing plant productivity.

Distribution of Microcystis aeruginosa peptide toxin and interactions with hepatic microsomes in mice

Purified 14C-labelled peptide toxin from the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa was administered intraperitoneally to mice and the distribution of label determined between the major organs. Seventy per cent of the label was localized in the liver after 1 min.; this value increasing to almost 90 per cent after 3 hours. Label associated with the lungs and other individual organs varied between 10 and 1 per cent of the 14C recovered throughout. Three microsomal enzyme inducers, beta-naphthoflavone, 3-methylcholanthrene and phenobarbital, afforded protection against liver damage and extended survival if given to mice before the administration of an LD50 dose of toxin. Toxin-dependent changes in liver cytochrome levels were also reduced by the enzyme inducers.

Effects of Aminooxyacetate and Aminoacetonitrile on Glycolate and Ammonia Release by the Cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica

Aminooxyacetate and aminoacetonitrile cause increased excretion of glycolate by the cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica. Both compounds also reduce NH(4)-N release induced by methionine sulfoximine in non-nitrogen-fixing cultures. Changes in amino acid pool sizes together with changes in activities of some enzymes related to glycolate metabolism show that glyoxylate to glycine conversion and glycine to serine conversion are inhibited by aminooxyacetate and aminoacetonitrile, respectively. The results also verify that photorespiratory glycolate metabolism via amination of glyoxylate is operative in A. cylindrica.

Toxins of freshwater cyanobacteria

Animal deaths after drinking water containing toxic cyanobacteria have been known for over a century. Poisonings occur annually and the fate of the toxins in natural and man-made waters is unknown. This article reviews the formation, properties and effects of freshwater cyanobacterial toxins.

Photoinactivation of photosystem II during photoinhibition in the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa

Sites of photoinhibition and photo-oxidative damage to the photosynthetic electrontransport system of the unicellular cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa were identified by studies of the kinetics of chlorophyll fluorescence induction by whole cells at room temperature and from partial photosynthetic electron-transport reactions in vitro in thylakoid preparations. Chlorophyll fluorescence intensity decreased following photoinhibitory light treatment. This was attributed to decreases both in the activity of photosystem II and in electron flow through the primary electron acceptor, Q. This inhibition was only partially reversed over a 50-min dark recovery period. Partial photosynthetic electron-transport experiments in vitro demonstrated that photosystem I was not affected by the photoinhibitory treatment. Light damage was associated exclusively with the light reactions, of photosystem II, at a site close to the reaction centre, between the site where diphenylcarbazide can donate electrons and the site where silicomolybdate can accept electrons. This damage presumably reduced production of ATP by noncyclic photophosphorylation and production of NADPH by photosystem I, decreasing the availability of these co-factors for reducing CO2 in the 'dark' reactions of photosynthesis. The importance of these findings is discussed.

Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase from the halophilic cyanobacterium Aphanothece halophytica

Various structural and functional properties of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) isolated from the halophilic cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) Aphanothece halophytica were reexamined. The ready dissociation of this algal RuBisCO during sedimentation in a linear sucrose density gradient was observed. Low NaCl concentrations promote the dissociation of small subunit (B) from the original native enzyme molecule as evidenced by the sucrose density gradient centrifugation and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It is thus possible that the intracellular osmoticum of A. halophytica might influence the structural integrity and activity of RuBisCO. The low residual carboxylase activity ascribed to the catalytic core, an oligomer form of the large subunit (A) apparently deficient in small subunit (B), was found to be markedly stimulated by a protein component which appears identical to subunit B. The purification and structural characterization of the catalytic core and subunit B were attempted by step-wise column chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, Utrogel AcA 34, Sephadex G-75, and hydroxylapatite, and at the final stage each component was purified to near homogeneity, although the catalytic core is still associated with a small quantity of subunit B. The addition of subunit B to the catalytic core does not alter the Km (HCO-3, RuBP) values, but Vmax values are markedly enhanced. Sucrose density gradient centrifugation gave a value of 16 S for the catalytic core. The molecular weights of the monomeric forms of the catalytic core (subunit A) and subunit B were 5.0 X 10(4) and 1.4 X 10(4), respectively.

Variations in ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase protein levels, activities and subcellular distribution during photoautotrophic batch culture of Chlorogloeopsis fritschii

Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase is present in the cytoplasm and carboxysomes (polyhedral bodies) of the cyanobacterium Chlorogloeopsis fritschii. In vitro enzyme activities have been measured throughout photoautotrophic batch culture, together with RuBP carboxylase protein concentrations, determined by rocket immunoelectrophoresis. Enzyme activities and protein levels in the cytoplasmic and carboxysomal fractions varied in an apparently inverse manner during growth. The RuBP carboxylase activities per unit enzyme protein were maximal in late lag phase/early exponential phase for both cellular enzyme pools. Both rates per unit enzyme protein declined during exponential phase, cytoplasmic enzyme activity remaining consistently higher than that of the carboxysomal enzyme. Activities per unit cytoplasmic and carboxysomal enzyme protein showed very low, similar rates in late stationary phase and death phase. Dialysis experiments indicated that such changes were not due to interference in activity assays by soluble endogenous effectors. Major shifts in the subcellular distribution of RuBP carboxylase protein were found versus culture age, enzyme protein levels being predominantly carboxysomal in lag phase, mainly soluble in exponential phase and then mainly carboxysomal again in stationary/death phase. The data are discussed in terms of carboxysome function and the question of control of RuBP carboxylase synthesis in cyanobacteria.