Just read these papers by coincidence and I really related to the story line, probably because of my love of ethnobotany.
It is interesting that the original cause was algae (cyanobacteria, or blue/green algae) that produce the toxin which was bio-accumulated up the food chain to the flying foxes. And one prevention could be seaweeds with high serine contents.
Who knows if this story is any different than the others which didn't pan out. But it makes some sense to me. This reminds me of the use of lysine to reduce outbreaks of hsv viruses, by shifting the balance of lysine vs arginine away from the amino acid the virus needs. Here the serine just prevents the toxic non-protein amino acid from getting into the protein chains and causing problems.
My cabinet is pretty full but this one seems to be worth following.
