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Locoweed (also crazyweed and loco) is a common name in North America for any plant that produces swainsonine, an alkaloid harmful to livestock.Worldwide, swainsonine is produced by a small number of species, most of them in three genera of the flowering plant family Fabaceae: Oxytropis and Astragalus in North America, [1] and Swainsona in Australia.
Locoweed poisoning is "the most widespread poisonous plant problem in the western United States." [ 3 ] Locoweeds cause locoism , a disease state resulting from chronic neurological damage. Symptoms of locoism include depression , blindness , loss of coordination, emaciation , tremors, paralysis , constipation , deterioration of the coat ...
The biosynthesis of swainsonine has been investigated in the fungus Rhizoctonia leguminicola, and it initially involves the conversion of lysine into pipecolic acid.The pyrrolidine ring is then formed via retention of the carbon atom of the pipecolate's carboxyl group, as well as the coupling of two more carbon atoms from either acetate or malonate to form a pipecolylacetate.
The Oxytropis lambertii plant is one of the locoweeds most frequently implicated in livestock poisoning. [8] The toxin is called swainsonine.Research suggests that the plant itself may not be toxic, but becomes toxic when inhabited by endophytic fungi of the genus Embellisia, which produce swainsonine.
Oxytropis is a genus of plants in the legume family.It includes over 600 species native to subarctic to temperate regions of North America and Eurasia. [1] It is one of three genera of plants known as locoweeds, and are notorious for being toxic to grazing animals.
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Common symptoms are often flulike and include headache, dizziness, upset stomach, chest pain or confusion, but highly concentrated levels of CO can cause a person to pass out without feeling symptoms.
Some astragalus species can be toxic, such as those found in the United States containing the neurotoxin swainsonine, which causes "locoweed" poisoning in animals. [11] Some astragalus species may contain high levels of selenium , possibly causing toxicity.