Dihydroanatoxin-a Is Biosynthesized from Proline in Cylindrospermum stagnale PCC 7417: Isotopic Incorporation Experiments and Mass Spectrometry Analysis.

LC-MS and GC-MS analytical conditions have been developed to detect the cis- and trans-epimers (relative configuration of the carbon bearing the acetyl or propionyl group) of dihydroanatoxin-a and dihydrohomoanatoxin-a, in biological samples. These compounds epimerize under acidic conditions, yielding a major species that was tentatively assigned as the cis-epimer. Cylindrospermum stagnale PCC 7417 was definitively shown to produce dihydroanatoxin-a (1.