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Biocrust-Produced Cyanotoxins Are Found Vertically in the Desert Soil Profile

  • S.I. : BMAA
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Abstract

The fate and persistence of the neurotoxin β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and its isomers N-(2aminoethyl)glycine (AEG) and 2,4-diaminobuytric acid (DAB) in soil profiles is poorly understood. In desert environments, these cyanotoxins are commonly found in both terrestrial and adjacent marine ecosystems; they accumulate in biocrusts and groundwater catchments, and have been previously shown to persist in soil as deep as 25 cm. To determine the depth that BMAA and its isomers can be found, samples were incrementally collected every 5 cm from bedrock to surface in triplicate soil cores in a biocrust field in the terrestrial desert of Qatar. Biocrust surface samples were also collected from each core priorly. Toxins were extracted from soil sub-samples, derivatized, and analyzed with UPLC-MS/MS. All toxins were detected in all soil cores at all depths. AEG and DAB were within a quantifiable concentration threshold; however, the low concentration of BMAA was considered below the threshold for quantification. This may have environmental health implications if these toxins are able to infiltrate and contaminate the bedrock aquifer, as well as the sand and gravel aquifers. Human and animal health may also be impacted through exposure to contaminated groundwater wells or through inhalation of aerosolized particles of soil, resuspended during construction or recreational activities.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the William Stamps Farish Fund and NPRP grant 4-775-1-116 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation) to the Brain Chemistry Labs. We wish to thank Massimo Cortesi, Jake Baur, Raviv Cohen, Stephen Blows, Eduardo Cassina, and Starr Chatziefthimiou, for their valuable help collecting the core samples, and Jacques LeBlanc and Sallie Vest, for the insight on geological phenomena and soil formation chronology. We wish to acknowledge Dr. Laith Abu Raddad and Soha R. Dargham for the guidance in the statistical analysis and the services provided by the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Biomathematics Research Core at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar.

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  1. Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar, Education City, PO Box 24114, Doha, Qatar

    Aspassia D. Chatziefthimiou

  2. Brain Chemistry Labs, Institute for Ethnomedicine, Box 3464, Jackson, WY, 83001, USA

    Sandra Anne Banack & Paul Alan Cox

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  1. Aspassia D. Chatziefthimiou
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  2. Sandra Anne Banack
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Correspondence to Sandra Anne Banack.

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Chatziefthimiou, A.D., Banack, S.A. & Cox, P.A. Biocrust-Produced Cyanotoxins Are Found Vertically in the Desert Soil Profile. Neurotox Res 39, 42–48 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12640-020-00224-x

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