Publications by authors named "Koyo Kuwata"

Article Synopsis
  • Amphidoma languida, a dinoflagellate known for producing the toxin azaspiracids, has been detected in environmental DNA in the Asia Pacific, despite no confirmed sightings.
  • The study examined the morphology, ultrastructure, and phylogeny of nine recently isolated strains of Amphidoma from Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines, revealing differences from the Atlantic species.
  • Findings indicate that these Pacific strains, proposed as a new species named Amphidoma fulgens sp. nov., are non-toxigenic and display unique structural features compared to Am. languida.
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The genus Jannaschia is one of the representatives of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic (AAP) bacteria, which is a strictly aerobic bacterium, producing a photosynthetic pigment bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) a. However, a part of the genus Jannaschia members have not been confirmed the photosynthetic ability. The partly presence of the ability in the genus Jannaschia could suggest the complexity of evolutionary history for anoxygenic photosynthesis in the genus, which is expected as gene loss and/or horizontal gene transfer.

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Harmful algal blooms responsible for mass mortalities of marine organisms have been rare in Hokkaido, northern Japan, although fish-killing blooms have been frequently reported from western Japanese coasts. In September-November 2021, a huge and prolonged cold-water bloom occurred along the Pacific coast of eastern Hokkaido, and was associated with intensive mortalities of sea urchin, fish, octopus, shellfish, etc. In this study, morphology and phylogeny of the dominant and co-occurring unarmored dinoflagellates of the Kareniaceae in the bloom were examined by using light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and molecular phylogeny inferred from ITS and LSU rDNA (D1-D3) sequences.

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