Prymnesins: toxic metabolites of the golden alga, Prymnesium parvum Carter (Haptophyta).

Increasingly over the past century, seasonal fish kills associated with toxic blooms of Prymnesium parvum have devastated aquaculture and native fish, shellfish, and mollusk populations worldwide. Protracted blooms of P. parvum can result in major disturbances to the local ecology and extensive monetary losses.

Analysis of expressed sequence tags from the harmful alga, Prymnesium parvum (Prymnesiophyceae, Haptophyta).

A cDNA library was constructed from late log-phase cultures of the ichthyotoxin-producing haptophyte, Prymnesium parvum. Approximately 6,300 single-pass 5' nucleotide sequences (out of nearly 8,000 randomly isolated clones) achieved length and quality criteria for incorporation into an expressed sequence tag (EST) database. Collectively, 3,415 unique genes (tentative unigenes [TUGs]) were assembled.