Cyanotoxins often exist intracellularly in cyanobacteria and are released into the water when cells die. Blooms caused by cyanobacteria can be harmful to the human health, animals, and the environment. Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) is one of the most common cyanotoxins and ingestion will cause negative human health effects. There are both non-toxic and toxic versions of cyanobacteria and it is impossible to tell if a species of cyanobacteria is toxic or non-toxic by its appearance. Molecular tests are available to determine if cyanobacteria carry the toxin gene but quantitative analysis, such as liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), is required to determine if cyanobacteria are producing cyanotoxins.
In this study, we show results on six microcystins and nodularin (microcystin-LA, microcystin-LF, microcystin-LR, microcystin-LY, microcystin-RR, microcystin-YR, nodularin-R) as outlined in EPA method 544 with the PerkinElmer QSight® 200 Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer.