{"doi":"10.1111/1758-2229.12647","title":"Stress effects of cyanotoxin β‐methylamino‐L‐alanine (BMAA) on cyanobacterial heterocyst formation and functionality","abstract":"<jats:title>Summary</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    <jats:bold>Various species of cyanobacteria, diatoms and dinoflagellates are capable of synthesizing the non‐proteinogenic</jats:bold>\n                    neurotoxic amino acid β‐N‐methylamino‐L‐alanine (BMAA),\n                    <jats:bold>which is</jats:bold>\n                    known to be a causative agent of human neurodegeneration. Similar to most cyanotoxins, the biological and ecological functions of BMAA in cyanobacteria are unknown. In this study, we show for the first time that BMAA, in micromolar amounts, inhibits the formation of heterocysts (specialized nitrogen‐fixing cells) in heterocystous, diazotrophic cyanobacteria [\n                    <jats:italic>Anabaena</jats:italic>\n                    sp. PCC 7120,\n                    <jats:italic>Nostoc punctiforme</jats:italic>\n                    PCC 73102 (ATCC 29133),\n                    <jats:italic>Nostoc</jats:italic>\n                    sp. strain 8963] under conditions of nitrogen starvation. The inhibitory effect of BMAA is abolished by the addition of glutamate. To understand the genetic reason for the observed phenomenon, we used\n                    <jats:bold>qPCR</jats:bold>\n                    to study the expression of key genes involved in cell differentiation and nitrogen metabolism in the model cyanobacterium\n                    <jats:italic>Anabaena</jats:italic>\n                    sp. PCC 7120.\n                    <jats:bold>\n                      We observed that in the presence of BMAA,\n                      <jats:italic>Anabaena</jats:italic>\n                      sp. PCC 7120 does not express two essential genes associated with heterocyst differentiation, namely,\n                      <jats:italic>hetR</jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>hepA</jats:italic>\n                      . We also found that addition of BMAA to cyanobacterial cultures with mature heterocysts inhibits\n                      <jats:italic>nifH</jats:italic>\n                      gene expression and nitrogenase activity.\n                    </jats:bold>\n                  </jats:p>","journal":"Environmental Microbiology Reports","year":2018,"id":662223,"datarank":0.4887144807032224,"base_score":3.258096538021482,"endowment":3.258096538021482,"self_citation_contribution":0.4887144807032224,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.4887144807032224,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":25,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1728777,"name":"Ulla Rasmussen","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":136715,"name":"Tatiana A. Semashko","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":598399,"name":"Vadim M. Govorun","orcid":"0000-0003-0837-8764","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1704294,"name":"Olga A. Koksharova","orcid":"0000-0003-2913-9017","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1728775,"name":"Alexandra A. Popova","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Stress effects of cyanotoxin β‐methylamino‐L‐alanine (BMAA) on cyanobacterial heterocyst formation and functionality","abstract":"<jats:title>Summary</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    <jats:bold>Various species of cyanobacteria, diatoms and dinoflagellates are capable of synthesizing the non‐proteinogenic</jats:bold>\n                    neurotoxic amino acid β‐N‐methylamino‐L‐alanine (BMAA),\n                    <jats:bold>which is</jats:bold>\n                    known to be a causative agent of human neurodegeneration. Similar to most cyanotoxins, the biological and ecological functions of BMAA in cyanobacteria are unknown. In this study, we show for the first time that BMAA, in micromolar amounts, inhibits the formation of heterocysts (specialized nitrogen‐fixing cells) in heterocystous, diazotrophic cyanobacteria [\n                    <jats:italic>Anabaena</jats:italic>\n                    sp. PCC 7120,\n                    <jats:italic>Nostoc punctiforme</jats:italic>\n                    PCC 73102 (ATCC 29133),\n                    <jats:italic>Nostoc</jats:italic>\n                    sp. strain 8963] under conditions of nitrogen starvation. The inhibitory effect of BMAA is abolished by the addition of glutamate. To understand the genetic reason for the observed phenomenon, we used\n                    <jats:bold>qPCR</jats:bold>\n                    to study the expression of key genes involved in cell differentiation and nitrogen metabolism in the model cyanobacterium\n                    <jats:italic>Anabaena</jats:italic>\n                    sp. PCC 7120.\n                    <jats:bold>\n                      We observed that in the presence of BMAA,\n                      <jats:italic>Anabaena</jats:italic>\n                      sp. PCC 7120 does not express two essential genes associated with heterocyst differentiation, namely,\n                      <jats:italic>hetR</jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>hepA</jats:italic>\n                      . We also found that addition of BMAA to cyanobacterial cultures with mature heterocysts inhibits\n                      <jats:italic>nifH</jats:italic>\n                      gene expression and nitrogenase activity.\n                    </jats:bold>\n                  </jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":3.258096538021482,"endowment":3.258096538021482,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"29624906","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2795520785","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Stockholm University International Mobility Grant","grant_id":"2011","title":null},{"funder_name":"the Russian Foundation for Basic Research","grant_id":"14-04-00656","title":null},{"funder_name":"the Russian Foundation for Basic Research","grant_id":"17-04-00412","title":null}],"total_grants":3,"fwci":1.8762,"citation_percentile":0.84819888,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2018,"count":1},{"year":2019,"count":2},{"year":2020,"count":5},{"year":2021,"count":3},{"year":2022,"count":6},{"year":2023,"count":1},{"year":2024,"count":6},{"year":2025,"count":1}],"oa_status":"closed","license":"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2F1758-2229.12647","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1758-2229.12647","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.12647","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29624906","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology","Biocrusts and Microbial Ecology","Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry Studies","Amino Acids, Diamino","Anabaena","Cyanobacteria Toxins","Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial","Genes, Essential","Glutamic Acid","Nitrogen Fixation","Nostoc"],"mesh_terms":["Cyanobacteria Toxins","Amino Acids, Diamino","Nitrogen Fixation","Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial","Anabaena","Glutamic Acid","Genes, Essential","Nostoc"],"keywords":["Cyanotoxin","Cyanobacteria","Heterocyst","Chemistry","Alanine","Biology","Microbiology","Biochemistry","Amino acid","Anabaena","Microcystin","Bacteria","Genetics"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-12T13:15:03.131387Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}