Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 3 October 2019 doi:10.20944/preprints201910.0034.v1 Peer-reviewed version available at Toxins 2019, 11, 714; doi:10.3390/toxins11120714 1 Review 2 Structural Diversity, Characterization and Toxicology 3 of Microcystins 4 Noureddine Bouaïcha1*, Christopher O. Miles2, Daniel G. Beach2, Zineb Labidi3, Amina Djabri1,3, 5 Naila Yasmine Benayache1 and Tri Nguyen-Quang4 6 1 Écologie, Systématique et Évolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405, 7 Orsay, France;
[email protected] (N.B.);
[email protected] (A.D.); 8
[email protected] (N.Y.B.) 9 2 Biotoxin Metrology, National Research Council Canada, 1411 Oxford St, Halifax, NS B3H 3Z1, Canada; 10
[email protected] (C.O.M.);
[email protected] (D.G.B.) 11 3 Laboratoire Biodiversité et Pollution des Écosystèmes, Faculté des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, 12 Université Chadli Bendjedid d’El Taref, Algeria;
[email protected] (Z.L.) 13 4 Biofluids and Biosystems Modeling (BBML), Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, 39 Cox Road, 14 Truro, B2N 5E3 Nova Scotia, Canada;
[email protected] (T.N-Q) 15 * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +33 (01)69154990; Fax: +33 (0)169155696 16 Abstract: Hepatotoxic microcystins (MCs) are the most widespread class of cyanotoxins and the one 17 that has most often been implicated in cyanobacterial toxicosis. One of the main challenges in 18 studying and monitoring MCs is the great structural diversity within the class. The full chemical 19 structure of the first MC was elucidated in the early 1980s and since then the number of reported 20 structural analogues has grown steadily and continues to do so, thanks largely to advances in 21 analytical methodology.