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. 1995 Oct;177(20):6021–6026. doi: 10.1128/jb.177.20.6021-6026.1995

Characterization of toxin-producing cyanobacteria by using an oligonucleotide probe containing a tandemly repeated heptamer.

L Rouhiainen 1, K Sivonen 1, W J Buikema 1, R Haselkorn 1
PMCID: PMC177437  PMID: 7592362

Abstract

Cyanobacteria produce toxins that kill animals. The two main classes of cyanobacterial toxins are cyclic peptides that cause liver damage and alkaloids that block nerve transmission. Many toxin-producing strains from Finnish lakes were brought into axenic culture, and their toxins were characterized. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, probing with a short tandemly repeated DNA sequence found at many locations in the chromosome of Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120, distinguishes hepatotoxic Anabaena isolates from neurotoxin-producing strains and from Nostoc spp.

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Selected References

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