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. 1991 Apr;57(4):1241–1245. doi: 10.1128/aem.57.4.1241-1245.1991

Toxicity and toxins of natural blooms and isolated strains of Microcystis spp. (Cyanobacteria) and improved procedure for purification of cultures.

M Shirai 1, A Ohtake 1, T Sano 1, S Matsumoto 1, T Sakamoto 1, A Sato 1, T Aida 1, K Harada 1, T Shimada 1, M Suzuki 1, et al.
PMCID: PMC182875  PMID: 1905521

Abstract

All samples of cyanobacterial blooms collected from 1986 to 1989 from Lake Kasumigaura, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, were hepatotoxic. The 50% lethal doses (LD50s) of the blooms to mice ranged from 76 to 556 mg/kg of body weight. Sixty-eight Microcystis cell clones (67 Microcystis aeruginosa and 1 M. viridis) were isolated from the blooms. Twenty-three strains (including the M. viridis strain) were toxic. However, the ratio of toxic to nontoxic strains among the blooms varied (6 to 86%). Microcystins were examined in six toxic strains. Five toxic strains produced microcystin-RR, -YR, and -LR, with RR being the dominant toxin in these strains. Another strain produced 7-desmethylmicrocystin-LR and an unknown microcystin. This strain showed the highest toxicity. Establishment of axenic strains from the Microcystis cells exhibiting extracellularly mucilaginous materials was successful by using a combination of the agar plate technique and two-step centrifugation.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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