Multi-omics analysis reveals the molecular response to heat stress in a "red tide" dinoflagellate.

Background: "Red tides" are harmful algal blooms caused by dinoflagellate microalgae that accumulate toxins lethal to other organisms, including humans via consumption of contaminated seafood. These algal blooms are driven by a combination of environmental factors including nutrient enrichment, particularly in warm waters, and are increasingly frequent. The molecular, regulatory, and evolutionary mechanisms that underlie the heat stress response in these harmful bloom-forming algal species remain little understood, due in part to the limited genomic resources from dinoflagellates, complicated by the large sizes of genomes, exhibiting features atypical of eukaryotes.

The microbiome of the dinoflagellate in laboratory culture and its changes at higher temperatures.

In the ocean, phytoplankton are dependent on communities of bacteria living in the phycosphere, a hot spot of metabolic and genetic exchange. Many types of interactions between phytoplankton and phycosphere bacteria have been shown, but it is unclear if the microbial communities associated with microalgae strains in culture collections are beneficial or harmful to the host strain. Here, we studied the microbial communities associated with four strains of the dinoflagellate that had been isolated from distant geographical locations and maintained in culture collection for hundreds of generations.

Identification of Volatiles of the Dinoflagellate .

The dinoflagellate , often called , is a potentially toxic alga found in algal blooms. Volatile compounds released by the alga might carry important information, e.g.

Different co-occurring bacteria enhance or decrease the growth of the microalga Nannochloropsis sp. CCAP211/78.

Marine photosynthetic microalgae are ubiquitously associated with bacteria in nature. However, the influence of these bacteria on algal cultures in bioreactors is still largely unknown. In this study, eighteen different bacterial strains were isolated from cultures of Nannochloropsis sp.