ArticleApplied and environmental microbiology2008
Biosynthetic intermediate analysis and functional homology reveal a saxitoxin gene cluster in cyanobacteria.
Article in Applied and environmental microbiology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 126 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
126 citing papers in PubMed, 378 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genomic insights into the taxonomy, safety and biotechnological potential ofMicrobial genomics · 2026Article
- Hemolymph-Mediated Dynamics of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins and Tetrodotoxin in Scallops.Marine drugs · 2026Article
- Transcriptomic insights into polyketides and toxin biosynthesis genes in freshwater dinoflagellates.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Review
- Nutrient-driven regulation of saxitoxin gene expression and toxin production in Raphidiopsis raciborskii (Cyanobacteria).Journal of phycology · 2025Article
- Article
- Temperature-Driven Intraspecific Diversity in Paralytic Shellfish Toxin Profiles of the Dinoflagellate Alexandrium pacificum and Intragenic Variation in the Saxitoxin Biosynthetic Gene, sxtA4.Microbial ecology · 2025Article
- Saxitoxin: A Comprehensive Review of Its History, Structure, Toxicology, Biosynthesis, Detection, and Preventive Implications.Marine drugs · 2025Review
- Genomic Identification and Characterization of Saxitoxin Producing Cyanobacteria in Western Lake Erie Harmful Algal Blooms.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Sea cucumber grazing linked to enrichment of anaerobic microbial metabolisms in coral reef sediments.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Biosynthesis of guanidine-containing natural products in cyanobacteria.Journal of industrial microbiology & biotechnology · 2024Review
- Synthesis of Saxitoxin Biosynthetic Intermediates: Reveal the Mechanism for Formation of its Tricyclic Skeleton in Biosynthesis.Chemistry, an Asian journal · 2024Article
- Toxin Dynamics among Populations of the Bioluminescent HAB SpeciesMarine drugs · 2024Article
- Why pyridoxal phosphate could be a functional predecessor of thiamine pyrophosphate and speculations on a primordial metabolism.RSC chemical biology · 2024Review
- Review
- Spatial and Temporal Variability of Saxitoxin-Producing Cyanobacteria in U.S. Urban Lakes.Toxins · 2024Article
- Recent Advances in Cyanotoxin Synthesis and Applications: A Comprehensive Review.Microorganisms · 2023Review
- Cyanotoxins, biosynthetic gene clusters, and factors modulating cyanotoxin biosynthesis.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2023Review
- Identification and genomic analysis of Pseudosulfitobacter koreense sp. nov. isolated from toxin-producing dinoflagellate Alexandrium pacificum.Archives of microbiology · 2023Article
- Metabolomics Applied to Cyanobacterial Toxins and Natural Products.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2023Review
66 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Saxitoxin (STX) and its analogues cause the paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) syndrome, which afflicts human health and impacts coastal shellfish economies worldwide. PSP toxins are unique alkaloids, being produced by both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Here we describe a candidate PSP toxin biosynthesis gene cluster (sxt) from Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii T3. The saxitoxin biosynthetic pathway is encoded by more than 35 kb, and comparative sequence analysis assigns 30 catalytic functions to 26 proteins. STX biosynthesis is initiated with arginine, S-adenosylmethionine, and acetate by a new type of polyketide synthase, which can putatively perform a methylation of acetate, and a Claisen condensation reaction between propionate and arginine. Further steps involve enzymes catalyzing three heterocyclizations and various tailoring reactions that result in the numerous isoforms of saxitoxin. In the absence of a gene transfer system in these microorganisms, we have revised the description of the known STX biosynthetic pathway, with in silico functional inferences based on sxt open reading frames combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of the biosynthetic intermediates. Our results indicate the evolutionary origin for the production of PSP toxins in an ancestral cyanobacterium with genetic contributions from diverse phylogenetic lineages of bacteria and provide a quantum addition to the catalytic collective available for future combinatorial biosyntheses. The distribution of these genes also supports the idea of the involvement of this gene cluster in STX production in various cyanobacteria.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.