title: Distinguishing the cyanobacterial neurotoxin β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) from other diamino acids.
abstract: β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is produced by diverse taxa of cyanobacteria, and has been detected by many investigators who have searched for it in cyanobacterial blooms, cultures and collections. Although BMAA is distinguishable from proteinogenic amino acids and its isomer 2,4-DAB using standard chromatographic and mass spectroscopy techniques routinely used for the analysis of amino acids, we studied whether BMAA could be reliably distinguished from other diamino acids, particularly 2,6-diaminopimelic acid which has been isolated from the cell walls of many bacterial species. We used HPLC-FD, UHPLC-UV, UHPLC-MS, and triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) to differentiate BMAA from the diamino acids 2,6-diaminopimelic acid, N-2(amino)ethylglycine, lysine, ornithine, 2,4-diaminosuccinic acid, homocystine, cystine, tryptophan, as well as other amino acids including asparagine, glutamine, and methionine methylsulfonium.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Ethnomedicine, Box 3464, Jackson, WY 83001, USA.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Banack
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Metcalf
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Spáčil
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Downing
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Downing
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Nunn
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Cox
mesh_terms: D000599:Amino Acids, Diamino / Q000737:chemistry*; D000600:Amino Acids, Dicarboxylic / Q000737:chemistry*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000737:chemistry*; D003960:Diaminopimelic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D013058:Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D000599:Amino Acids, Diamino; D000600:Amino Acids, Dicarboxylic; C064614:beta-(N-carboxy-N-methyl)aminoalanine; D003960:Diaminopimelic Acid