PLoS compute Biol: environmental toxins produced by algae can cause als

September 18, 2019 / BIOON / -- in a recent study, researchers from the school of medicine at Pennsylvania State University explained through computer simulation that environmental toxins produced by algae may cause neurodegenerative diseases The results were published in PLoS computational biology The researchers investigated an environmental toxin called β - methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA), which has a significantly higher incidence of ALS in people who eat a diet rich in the toxin (image source: www Pixabay Com) the toxin is produced by cyanobacteria in the ocean, and it will be transmitted through the food chain to accumulate in marine biological clocks such as sharks and shellfish Therefore, people who rely on these marine organisms in their daily diet may be at risk Elizabeth Proctor, assistant professor of Neurosurgery, and Nikolay dokholyan, Professor of pharmacology, used computer models to analyze the occurrence and development of diseases such as ALS that may be caused by toxin exposure According to the researchers, BMAA can produce neurotoxicity by affecting the activity of a protein called copper zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1) "Our results indicate that we need to further study the activity characteristics and mechanism of SOD1 in ALS patients If we can determine the molecular mechanism in the process of disease occurrence and development, it may help to improve the treatment and prevention effect of ALS patients." In this study, the authors suggest that BMAA causes the protein SOD1 to fold into a toxic form for neurons It is well known that minor changes in the "composition" of amino acids may result in proteins not functioning as expected Proctor said that if there is enough BMAA in motoneurons, it may be mistaken for L-serine with similar structure According to the researchers, more than 150 SOD1 mutations are associated with ALS, but according to Nikolay dokholyan, Professor of pharmacology and co-author of the study, the structural changes of these mutations are not enough to affect the stability of the protein "SOD1 is more stable than most normal proteins," dokholyan said "Although many mutations in this protein are associated with ALS, structural changes are not sufficient to cause serious instability." Serine appears ten times in the "formula" of SOD1 Using a computer program developed by dokholyan, the researchers tested their theory by randomly replacing serine in SOD1 with BMAA They observed that the incorporation of BMAA would have an adverse effect on the structure and stability of proteins and lead to their folding The study of the SOD1 modification pattern in patients may help to develop potential interventions for ALS, the researchers said For example, L-serine supplementation Information source: environmental toxin produced by algae may lead to ALS original source: Elizabeth A Proctor, David D Mowrey, Nikolay v dokholyan β - methylamino-l-alanine substitution of serine in SOD1 suggestions a direct role in ALS kinetics PLoS computational biology, 2019; 15 (7): e1007225 doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007225