Molecular evidence that plastids in the toxin-producing dinoflagellate genus Dinophysis originate from the free-living cryptophyte Teleaulax amphioxeia.
Some species of the dinoflagellate genus Dinophysis form red tides and are toxin producers with a great environmental impact. The dinoflagellates as a group display high plastid diversity. Several cases indicate that plastids have been replaced. In the case of the genus Dinophysis, the plastids show characteristics of a plastid originating from a cryptophyte. Recent molecular evidence showed that the plastid indeed originates from a cryptophyte, but the source could not be identified to species or genus level. The data presented here show that both a 799 bp region of the psbA gene and 1,221 bp region of the 16S rRNA gene from Dinophysis spp. are identical to the same loci in Teleaulax amphioxeia SCCAP K434. This strongly indicates that the plastid was acquired recently in Dinophysis and may be a so-called kleptoplastid, specifically originating from a species of Teleaulax.
Janson
Sven
S
Department of Biology and Environmental Science, University of Kalmar, SE-391 82 Kalmar, Sweden. sven.janson@hik.se
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D044785:Cryptophyta / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers; D004141:Dinoflagellida / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D018087:Plastids / Q000235:genetics*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013559:Symbiosis
D017931:DNA Primers; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S