saxitoxin

[ sak-si-tok-sin ]

noun

1. a powerful neurotoxin, C 1 0 H 1 7 N 7 O 4 , produced by the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax catenella, the causative agent of red tide.

Word History and Origins

Origin of saxitoxin¹

1960–65; < New Latin Saxi ( domus ), a clam genus infected by the dinoflagellates (equivalent to Latin sax ( um ) stone + -i- -i- + domus house) + toxin

Example Sentences

Two years later, in the summer of 2017, saxitoxin emerged as a suspect in the strange behavior of a walrus that pulled out on the northern Bering Sea island of Little Diomede.

From Seattle Times

The poison in the shellfish is … called saxitoxin.

From Nature

More recently, the identification of the cyanobacterial genes encoding the biosynthetic machinery that produces saxitoxin, a highly potent PST, have enabled a molecular understanding of PST assembly9.

From Nature

One such compound is saxitoxin, a neurotoxin that tends to affect humans when they consume contaminated shellfish.

From The Guardian

The advance could help to make the compound, saxitoxin, medically useful.

From Nature