Talk:Microcystin

Why isn't there an entry for how this sort of contamination is cleared from a municipal water distribution network? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.146.80.57 (talk) 16:54, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

Please make more accessible for a general audience
I came here today driven by the stories about the water crisis in Ohio. I agree with the poster who asked for something specific on this issue in the entry, but wanted to add a broader point.

I believe this article is hard to follow and understand for anyone without professional-level engagement or knowledge of this field. Since I am a journalist who has covered sci-tech topics for educated but non-specialist audiences since the 1970s, and for nearly a decade was in charge of a weekly sci-tech TV show, I think I am probably one of the non-specialists most likely to understand an entry on this subject. Yet I found it very inaccessible:

"Microcystins are cyclic nonribosomal peptides produced by cyanobacteria (e.g., Microcystis aeruginosa and Planktothrix). They are cyanotoxins and can be very toxic for plants and animals including humans. Their hepatotoxicity may cause serious damage to the liver. Microcystins can strongly inhibit protein phosphatases type 1 (PP1) and 2A (PP2A), and are linked to pansteatitis.[1]"

This is the written in the style of what I imagine might be an answer to a question on a college test, not an encyclopedia entry even for a college-educated general public. It is almost like someone showing off, bragging about how much they know. Obviously that was not the case since to all intents and purposes Wikipedia contributions are anonymous. I think it is likely that the author(s) were not focusing on writing for a general audience. For example, right after the mention of cyanobacteria two specific organisms are cited. This would show a teacher that one is familiar with the field being studied; but the member of the general public that isn't quite sure what a "cyanobacteria" is would be more helped if inside the parenthesis it said "these are bacteria that derive their energy from photosynthesis, for example blue-green algae."

It is not my intention to denigrate the efforts nor intentions of the volunteers who worked on this entry. It is obviously much better to have this entry rather than nothing at all, but if someone who knows enough about the field to do so would make the entry a little less reliant on readers already knowing all this professional language, that would be a significant improvement. Jgperez (talk) 21:40, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
 * The technical parts have been reduced or moved to a sub-section. prokaryotes (talk) 11:46, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified (January 2018)
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Florida algal blooms
It is absurd not having a section on this. Microcystin is the effect of pollution coming into Lake Okeechobee and is responsible for the toxicity of algal blooms throughout Florida

http://fdep.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8af74a0a2de643bca3a58ad28989a30d