Microcystin-RR

• Hepatotoxin
• Potent inhibitor of PP2A
• Cited in several water quality-related research articles

Microcystin-RR (MC-RR) is an Arg-Arg analog of Microcystin-LR (Prod. No. ALX-350-012). Although MC-RR was found to be up to 10-fold less toxic than MC-LR after intra-peritoneal injection in mice, it is both hepatotoxic and carcinogenic. It is a potent inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A).

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Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes mostly present in freshwater ecosystems. The increasingly frequent appearance of cyanobacteria blooms in lakes and rivers is linked to climate changes and human activities. Microcystins are a group of cyclic heptapeptide hepatotoxins produced by a number of cyanobacterial genera. The most notable of which, and namesake, is the widespread genus Microcystis. Structurally, all microcystins consist of the generalized structure cyclo(-D-Ala¹-X²-D-MeAsp³-Y⁴-Adda⁵-D-Glu⁶-Mdha⁷-). X and Y are variable L-amino acids, D-MeAsp is D-erythro-β-methylaspartic acid and Mdha is N-methyldehydroalanine. Adda is the cyanobacteria unique C₂₀ β-amino acid 3-amino-9-methoxy-2,6,8-trimethyl-10-phenyl-deca-4,6-dienoic acid. Substitutions of the variable L-amino acids at positions 2 and 4 give rise to at least 21 known primary microcystin analogs and alterations in the other constituent amino acids result in more than 90 reported mycrocystins to date.