Mixotrophy in the marine red-tide cryptophyte Teleaulax amphioxeia and ingestion and grazing impact of cryptophytes on natural populations of bacteria in Korean coastal waters.

Cryptophytes are ubiquitous and one of the major phototrophic components in marine plankton communities. They often cause red tides in the waters of many countries. Understanding the bloom dynamics of cryptophytes is, therefore, of great importance.

Influence of the tidal front on the three-dimensional distribution of spring phytoplankton community in the eastern Yellow Sea.

Hydrographic observation and biological samplings were conducted to assess the distribution of phytoplankton community over the sloping shelf of the eastern Yellow Sea in May 2012. The concentration of chlorophyll a was determined and phytoplankton was microscopically examined to conduct quantitative and cluster analyses. A cluster analysis of the phytoplankton species and abundance along four observation lines revealed the three-dimensional structure of the phytoplankton community distribution: the coastal group in the mixed region, the offshore upper layer group preferring stable water column, and the offshore lower layer group.

The fate of cryptophyte cell organelles in the ciliate Mesodinium cf. rubrum subjected to starvation.

Mesodinium rubrum Lohmann is a mixotrophic ciliate and one of the best studied species exhibiting acquired phototrophy. To investigate the fate of cryptophyte organelles in the ciliate subjected to starvation, we conducted ultrastructural studies of a Korean strain of M. cf.

Cryptophyte gene regulation in the kleptoplastidic, karyokleptic ciliate Mesodinium rubrum.

Photosynthesis in the ciliate Mesodinium rubrum is achieved using a consortium of cryptophyte algal organelles enclosed in its specialized vacuole. A time-series microarray analysis was conducted on the photosynthetic ciliate using an oligochip containing 15,654 primers designed from EST data of the cryptophyte prey, Teleaulax amphioxeia. The cryptophycean nuclei were transcriptionally active over 13 weeks and approximately 13.

The Plastid Genome of the Cryptomonad Teleaulax amphioxeia.

Teleaulax amphioxeia is a photosynthetic unicellular cryptophyte alga that is distributed throughout marine habitats worldwide. This alga is an important plastid donor to the dinoflagellate Dinophysis caudata through the ciliate Mesodinium rubrum in the marine food web. To better understand the genomic characteristics of T.

Acuminolide A: structure and bioactivity of a new polyether macrolide from dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata.

Acuminolide A (1), along with pectenotoxin II (PTX-2), dinophysistoxin I (DTX-1), okadaic acid (OA), and 7-epi-PTX-2 seco acid, was isolated from a large-scale cultivation of the dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata. The new 33-membered macrolide 1 was characterized by detailed analysis of 2D NMR and MS data. Its relative stereochemistry was elucidated on the basis of ROESY correlations and J-based analysis.

Ultrastructure and molecular phylogeny of Mesodinium coatsi sp. nov., a benthic marine ciliate.

Mesodinium is a globally distributed ciliate genus forming frequent and recurrent blooms in diverse marine habitats. Here, we describe a new marine species, Mesodinium coatsi n. sp.

The effect of starvation on plastid number and photosynthetic performance in the kleptoplastidic dinoflagellate Amylax triacantha.

The dinoflagellate Amylax triacantha is known to retain plastids of cryptophyte origin by engulfing the mixotrophic ciliate Mesodinium rubrum, itself a consumer of cryptophytes. However, there is no information on the fate of the prey's organelles and the photosynthetic performance of the newly retained plastids in A. triacantha.

Genetics and morphology characterize the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium voratum, n. sp., (Dinophyceae) as the sole representative of Symbiodinium Clade E.

Dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium are ubiquitous in shallow marine habitats where they commonly exist in symbiosis with cnidarians. Attempts to culture them often retrieve isolates that may not be symbiotic, but instead exist as free-living species. In particular, cultures of Symbiodinium clade E obtained from temperate environments were recently shown to feed phagotrophically on bacteria and microalgae.

Ostreol A: a new cytotoxic compound isolated from the epiphytic dinoflagellate Ostreopsis cf. ovata from the coastal waters of Jeju Island, Korea.

Ostreol A was isolated from cultures of the epiphytic dinoflagellate Ostreopsis cf. ovata from the coastal waters of Jeju Island, Korea. The compound, a non-palytoxin derivative, has a polyhydroxy chain ending with the primary amino group and contains an amide bond, along with two tetrahydropyran rings in the chain.

Ultrastructure of the oral apparatus of Mesodinium rubrum from Korea.

Mesodinium rubrum Lohmann is a photosynthetic marine ciliate that has functional chloroplasts of cryptophyte origin. Little is known about the oral ultrastructure of M. rubrum compared with several reports on the sequestration of nuclei and plastids from prey organisms, such as Geminigera cryophila and Teleaulax species.

Heterotrophic feeding as a newly identified survival strategy of the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium.

Survival of free-living and symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.) in coral reefs is critical to the maintenance of a healthy coral community. Most coral reefs exist in oligotrophic waters, and their survival strategy in such nutrient-depleted waters remains largely unknown.

First report of the epiphytic benthic dinoflagellates Coolia canariensis and Coolia malayensis in the waters off Jeju Island, Korea: morphology and rDNA sequences.

Coolia spp. are epiphytic and benthic dinoflagellates. Herein, we report for the first time, the occurrence of Coolia canariensis and Coolia malayensis in Korean waters.

Marivita cryptomonadis gen. nov., sp. nov. and Marivita litorea sp. nov., of the family Rhodobacteraceae, isolated from marine habitats.

Two strictly aerobic, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria containing photosynthesis-related genes, designated strains CL-SK44(T) and CL-JM1(T), were isolated from a culture of the marine phytoplankton Cryptomonas sp. and coastal seawater from Korea, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the two strains were related to members of the genera Thalassobius (95.

Maritalea myrionectae gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from a culture of the marine ciliate Myrionecta rubra.

A Gram-negative, rod-shaped, strictly aerobic bacterium, designated strain CL-SK30(T), was isolated from a culture of the marine ciliate Myrionecta rubra. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain CL-SK30(T) was most closely related to Cucumibacter marinus (92.0 % similarity) and next to the type strains of species of the genus Devosia (89.

PLASTID DYNAMICS DURING SURVIVAL OF DINOPHYSIS CAUDATA WITHOUT ITS CILIATE PREY(1).

To survive, the marine dinoflagellate Dinophysis caudata Saville-Kent must feed on the plastidic ciliate Myrionecta rubra (=Mesodinium rubrum), itself a consumer of cryptophytes. Whether D. caudata has its own permanent chloroplasts or retains plastids from its ciliate prey, however, remains unresolved.

Cyanopeptoline CB071: a cyclic depsipeptide isolated from the freshwater cyanobacterium Aphanocapsa sp.

Cyanopeptolin CB071 (1), a trypsin inhibitor, was isolated from the freshwater cyanobacterium Aphanocapsa sp. Its complete structure was determined by detailed NMR spectroscopy and MS analyses, along with chemical reactions. The compound showed inhibition of trypsin at a concentration of IC50=2.

Genetic diversity of parasitic dinoflagellates in the genus amoebophrya and its relationship to parasite biology and biogeography.

We determined 18S rRNA gene sequences of Amoebophrya strains infecting the thecate dinoflagellates Alexandrium affine and Gonyaulax polygramma from Korean coastal waters and compared those data with previously reported sequences of Amoebophrya from cultures, infected cells concentrated from field samples, and environmental 18S rRNA gene sequences obtained from a variety of marine environments. Further, we used these data to examine genetic diversity in Amoebophrya strains relative to geographic origin, host phylogeny, site of infection, and host specificity. In our analyses of known dinoflagellate taxa, the 13 available Amoebophrya sequences clustered together within the dinoflagellates as three groups forming a monophyletic group with high bootstrap support (maximum likelihood, ML: 100%) or a posterior probability (PP) of 1.

Mixotrophy in the phototrophic harmful alga Cochlodinium polykrikoides (Dinophycean): prey species, the effects of prey concentration, and grazing impact.

We first reported here that the harmful alga Cochlodinium polykrikoides, which had been previously known as an autotrophic dinoflagellate, was a mixotrophic species. We investigated the kinds of prey species and the effects of the prey concentration on the growth and ingestion rates of C. polykrikoides when feeding on an unidentified cryptophyte species (Equivalent Spherical Diameter, ESD = 5.

Parasites and phytoplankton, with special emphasis on dinoflagellate infections.

Planktonic members of most algal groups are known to harbor intracellular symbionts, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. Among the dinoflagellates, viral and bacterial associations were recognized a quarter century ago, yet their impact on host populations remains largely unresolved. By contrast, fungal and protozoan infections of dinoflagellates are well documented and generally viewed as playing major roles in host population dynamics.