title: Comparative gene expression in toxic versus non-toxic strains of the marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum typically produces paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins, which are known only from cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates. While a PSP toxin gene cluster has recently been characterized in cyanobacteria, the genetic background of PSP toxin production in dinoflagellates remains elusive.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We constructed and analysed an expressed sequence tag (EST) library of A. minutum, which contained 15,703 read sequences yielding a total of 4,320 unique expressed clusters. Of these clusters, 72% combined the forward-and reverse reads of at least one bacterial clone. This sequence resource was then used to construct an oligonucleotide microarray. We analysed the expression of all clusters in three different strains. While the cyanobacterial PSP toxin genes were not found among the A. minutum sequences, 192 genes were differentially expressed between toxic and non-toxic strains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on this study and on the lack of identified PSP synthesis genes in the two existent Alexandrium tamarense EST libraries, we propose that the PSP toxin genes in dinoflagellates might be more different from their cyanobacterial counterparts than would be expected in the case of a recent gene transfer. As a starting point to identify possible PSP toxin-associated genes in dinoflagellates without relying on a priori sequence information, the sequences only present in mRNA pools of the toxic strain can be seen as putative candidates involved in toxin synthesis and regulation, or acclimation to intracellular PSP toxins.
authors.affiliation: Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar-und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany.
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: Sára
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beszteri
authors.forename: Gernot
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Glöckner
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Krock
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goesmann
authors.forename: Allan D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Cembella
mesh_terms: D004141:Dinoflagellida / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D008387:Marine Toxins / Q000235:genetics*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D057096:Shellfish Poisoning / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D008387:Marine Toxins
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