Bacterial alkaloids

Saxitoxin (STX) is a potent neurotoxin and the best-known paralytic shellfish toxin. Ingestion of saxitoxin by humans, usually by consumption of shellfish contaminated by toxic algal blooms, is responsible for the illness known as paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP).

Trabectedin, sold under the brand name Yondelis, is an antitumor chemotherapy medication for the treatment of advanced soft-tissue sarcoma and ovarian cancer.

Anatoxin-a, also known as Very Fast Death Factor (VFDF), is a secondary, bicyclic amine alkaloid and cyanotoxin with acute neurotoxicity. It was first discovered in the early 1960s in Canada, and was isolated in 1972. The toxin is produced by multiple genera of cyanobacteria and has been reported in North America, South America, Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Symptoms of anatoxin-a toxicity include loss of coordination, muscular fasciculations, convulsions and death by respiratory paralysis. Its mode of action is through the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAchR) where i

Staurosporine (antibiotic AM-2282 or STS) is a natural product originally isolated in 1977 from the bacterium Streptomyces staurosporeus. It was the first of over 50 alkaloids that were discovered to share this type of bis-indole chemical structure. The chemical structure of staurosporine was elucidated by X-ray crystalography in 1994.

Cylindrospermopsin (abbreviated to CYN, or CYL) is a cyanotoxin produced by a variety of freshwater cyanobacteria. CYN is a polycyclic uracil derivative containing guanidino and sulfate groups. It is also zwitterionic, making it highly water soluble. CYN is toxic to liver and kidney tissue and is thought to inhibit protein synthesis and to covalently modify DNA and/or RNA. It is not known whether cylindrospermopsin is a carcinogen, but it appears to have no tumour-initiating activity in mice.

chemical compound

Lyngbyatoxin-a is a type of alkaloid cyanotoxin produced by certain cyanobacteria species, most notably Moorea producens (formerly classified as Lyngbya majuscula). It is produced as defense mechanism to ward off any would-be predators of the bacterium, being a potent blister agent as well as carcinogen. Low concentrations cause a common skin condition known as seaweed dermatitis.