You are here:
Hunting the eagle killer: A cyanobacterial neurotoxin causes vacuolar myelinopathy
Citation:
Breinlinger, S., T. Phillips, B. Haram, J. Mareš, J. Martínez Yerena, P. Hrouzek, R. Sobotka, W. Henderson, P. Schmieder, S. Williams, J. Lauderdale, H. Wilde, W. Gerrin, A. Kust, J. Washington, C. Wagner, M. Liebeke, H. Enke, T. Niedermeyer, AND S. Wilde. Hunting the eagle killer: A cyanobacterial neurotoxin causes vacuolar myelinopathy. SCIENCE. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Washington, DC, 371(6536):eaax9050, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax9050
Impact/Purpose:
Although many human activities have clear negative effects on the natural world, there are also unforeseen consequences. Bald eagle mass death events in the southeastern United States may be one such downstream effect of human activity. After considerable effort, Breinlinger et al. identified the cause of these events as an insidious combination of factors. Colonization of waterways by an invasive, introduced plant provided a substrate for the growth of a previously unidentified cyanobacterium. Exposure of this cyanobacterium to bromide, typically anthropogenic in origin, resulted in the production of a neurotoxin that both causes neuropathy in animals that prey on the plants and also bioaccumulates to kill predators such as bald eagles.
Description:
Vacuolar myelinopathy is a fatal neurological disease that was initially discovered during a mysterious mass mortality of bald eagles in Arkansas in the United States. The cause of this wildlife disease has eluded scientists for decades while its occurrence has continued to spread throughout freshwater reservoirs in the southeastern United States. Recent studies have demonstrated that vacuolar myelinopathy is induced by consumption of the epiphytic cyanobacterial species Aetokthonos hydrillicola growing on aquatic vegetation, primarily the invasive Hydrilla verticillata Here, we describe the identification, biosynthetic gene cluster, and biological activity of aetokthonotoxin, a pentabrominated biindole alkaloid that is produced by the cyanobacterium A. hydrillicola We identify this cyanobacterial neurotoxin as the causal agent of vacuolar myelinopathy and discuss environmental factors-especially bromide availability-that promote toxin production.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Hunting the eagle killer: A cyanobacterial neurotoxin causes vacuolar myelinopathy
PubMed Central Link to Manuscript