Identification of Enterobacter bacteria as saxitoxin producers in cattle's rumen and surface water from Venezuelan Savannahs.

We have previously shown that a paralytic toxin able to block sodium channels in nerve is associated with a cattle disease known as bovine paraplegic syndrome (BPS) [Toxicon. 31 (1993) 1581]. We have now identified this as saxitoxin (STX) using HPLC by either the methods of [Toxicon. 31 (1993) 1581], or [Toxicon. 25 (1987) 1105]. In recent experiments we were able to collect and cultivate facultative anaerobic bacteria growing on rumen, grass and ponds of corrals with high incidence of BPS; the cultured bacteria produce compounds indistinguishable from STX under both HPLC procedures described above. Two species of the Enterobacter genus (E. asburiae and E. cloacae) and a strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae, were identified using standard biochemical criteria as well as gas chromatography of bacterial lipids. All these bacteria produced STX in aerobic cultures.