Journal
BOTANICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
Volume 143, Issue 2, Pages 165-168Publisher
BLACKWELL PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1046/j.1095-8339.2003.00217.x
Keywords
ALS-PDC; biomagnification; Chamorro; flying foxes; glutamic acid; Guam; neurological disease; Pteropus
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BMAA (beta-methylamino-L-alanine), a nonprotein amino acid with neurotoxic properties occurs in the cycad Cycas micronesica Hill in Guam. BMAA may have originally played a role as an antiherbivory compound in the plant, but is now of great interest because of its possible link to ALS-PDC, a neurological disease among the Chamorro people of Guam. Biomagnified cycad neurotoxins may play a role because they accumulate in flying foxes of the genus Pteropus that are eaten during traditional feasts. Since flying foxes feed on the seed sarcotesta it is important to understand the distribution of BMAA in the various tissues of the cycad. Using HPLC techniques, we quantified both BMAA and glutamic acid (GLU) in all cycad tissues. Although GLU is distributed randomly throughout the plant, BMAA is concentrated in cycad reproductive organs, with the highest concentrations being found in the immature staminate sporangium and the outmost layer of the sarcotesta. This finding is consistent with the putative evolutionary role of BMAA as an antiherbivory compound, as well as the biomagnification of the compound in flying foxes that ingest the seed sarcotesta. (C) 2003 The Linnean Society of London.
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