• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.625-631
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• 2003

While phytoplankton diversity and productivity in the Southern Ocean has been widely studied in recent years, most attention has been given to elucidating environmental factors that affect the dynamics of micro-plankton (mainly diatoms) and nano-plankton (mainly Phaeocystis antarctica). Only limited effects have been given to studying the occurrence and the potential risks associated with the blooming of dinoflagellates in the relevant waters. This study focused on the appearance and toxicological characteristics of a toxic dinoflagellate, Alexandrium tamarense, identified and isolated from the Drake Passage in a research cruise from November to December 2001 The appearance of A. tamarense in the Southern Ocean indicates the risk of a paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) outbreak there and is therefore of scientific concern. Results showed that while the overall quantity of A. tamarense in water samples from 30meters below the sea surface often comprised less than 0.1% of the total population of phytoplankton, the highest concentration of A. tamarense (20 cells $L^{-1}$) was recorded in the portion of the Southern Ocean between the southern end of South America and the Falkland Islands. Waters near the Polar Front contained the second highest concentrations of 10-15 cells $L^{-1}$. A. tamarense was however rarely found in waters near the southern side of the Polar Front, indicating that cold sea temperatures near the Antarctic ice does not favor the growth of this dinoflagellate. One strain of A. tamarense from this cruise was isolated and cultured for further study in the laboratory. Experiments showed that this strain of A. tamarense has a high tolerance to temperature variations and could survive at temperatures ranging from $5-26^{\circ}C$. This shows the cosmopolitan nature off. tamarense. With regard to the algal toxins produced, this strain of A. tamarense produced mainly C-2 toxins but very little saxitoxin and gonyailtoxin. The toxicological property of this A. tamarense strain coincided with a massive death of penguins in the Falkland Islands in December 2002 to January 2003.

• ALGAE
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2024

Many dinoflagellates produce bioluminescence. To estimate the intensity of bioluminescence produced by populations of the heterotrophic dinoflagellates Noctiluca scintillans and Polykrikos kofoidii and autotrophic dinoflagellate Alexandrium mediterraneum in Korean waters, we measured cellular bioluminescence intensity as a function of water temperature and calculated population bioluminescence intensity with cell abundances and water temperature. The mean 200-second-integrated bioluminescence intensity per cell (BL_cell) of N. scintillans satiated with the chlorophyte Dunaliella salina decreased continuously with increasing water temperature from 5 to 25℃. However, the BL_cell of P. kofoidii satiated with the mixotrophic dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum continuously increased from 5 to 15℃ but decreased at temperatures exceeding this (to 30℃). Similarly, the BL_cell of A. mediterraneum continuously increased from 10 to 20℃ but decreased between 20 and 30℃. The difference between highest and lowest BL_cell of N. scintillans, P. kofoidii, and A. mediterraneum at the tested water temperatures was 3.5, 11.8, and 21.0 times, respectively, indicating that water temperature clearly affected BL_cell. The highest estimated population bioluminescence intensity (BL_popul) of N. scintillans in Korean waters in 1998-2022 was 4.22 × 10¹³ relative light unit per liter (RLU L^-1), which was 1,850 and 554,000 times greater than that of P. kofoidii and A. mediterraneum, respectively. This indicates that N. scintillans populations produced much brighter bioluminescence in Korean waters than the populations of P. kofoidii or A. mediterraneum.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.144-150
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• 1992

Paralytic shellfish toxins in mussels Mytilus edulis and dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarene from Jinhae Bay, south coast of Korea were investigated. The mussels collected in March-April, 1989 showed toxicities of 7.5 MU/g of whole meat(31-88 MU/g of the digestive gland) , and those collected in 1990 showed toxicity level of 1.9-9.9 MU/g of whole meat by the standard mouse bioassay. Analysis of toxins by high performance liquid chromatography revealed the presence of gonyautoxin 1-4$(48-76\%)$ gonyautoxin 8 and epi-gonyautoxin $8(C1-C2,\;14-39\%)$, saxitoxin$(1-10\%)$, neosaxitoxin$(l-7\%)$ and trace amount of decarbamoylgonyautoxin 2 and 3(dcGTX2, dcGTX3) in the mussels of 1989. While, Mussels collected in 1990 contained a significantly larger proportion of neosaxitoxin $(44-50\%)$ than did those of 1989. A. tamarense isolated in April 1989 produced the same toxins in culture with slightly higher proportion of Cl, C2, dcGTX2 and dcGTX3 than in the mussels. The difference was within a range of toxin change during accumulation by shellfish and during sample preparation for analysis. It was thus concluded that the dinoflagellate was the cause of toxins in the mussels.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.364-372
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• 1995

On the outbreak of paralytic shellfish poisoning in April 1993 in most of shellfish harvesting areas in Jinhae Bay, Korea, to clarify the toxin production of causative organism Alexandrium species, 19 axenic clonal isolates established from the benthic resting cysts in three different stations of those culture grounds were subjected to PSP toxin analysis by HPLC. Individual toxin content per cell was highly variable among the strains isolated from a sampling area and originated from an individual cyst. Average toxin contents in those areas revealed higher values of 54-70 fmol/cell. Toxin profiles included C1/C2(epiGTX8/GTX8), GTX1/GTX4 and neoSTX as the major components, and GTX2/GTX3, GTX5, C4, dcSTX and STX as the minor or sporadic ones. neoSTX on the dominant toxins showed not only most diverse compositional changes comprising $5-54 mol\%$ ranges but also no detection on the half of the strains examined, which were implicated in arising of heterogeneity with a genetic trait within a geographical region. When average toxin composition was compared, carbamate toxins comprised large proportions of $57\%,\;54\%\;and\;67\%$ as total toxin in St. 1, St. 2 and St. 4, respectively. These results suggested that an extensive paralytic shellfish toxification in Jinhae Bay could be largely due to the production of highly potent carbamate toxins in the causative dinoflagellate Alexandrium species.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.175-184
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to isolate and identify algicidal bacterium that tends to kill the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella, and to determine the algicidal activity. METHODS AND RESULTS: Among of four algicidal bacteria isolated in this study, NH-12 isolate was the strongest algicidal activity against A. catenella. NH-12 isolate was identified on the basis of biochemical characteristics and analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences. The isolate showed 97.67% homology with Pseudoalteromonas prydzensis ACAM $620^T$ (U85855), and was designated Pseudoalteromonas sp. NH-12. The optimal culture conditions of this isolate were $25^{\circ}C$, initial pH 8.0, and 3.0% (w/v) NaCl concentration. The algicidal activity of NH-12 was significantly increased to maximum value in the late of logarithmic phase of bacterial culture. As a result of 'cell culture insert' experiment, NH-12 is assumed to produce secondary metabolites, as an indirect attacker. When 10% culture filtrate of NH-12 was applied to A. catenella, over 99% of algal cells were destroyed within 24 h. In addition, the killing effects were increased in dose and time dependent manners. CONCLUSION(S): Taken together, our results suggest that Pseudoalteromonas sp. NH-12 could be a candidate for controlling of toxic algal blooms.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.468-474
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• 1990

Eight species, 6 Dinophyceae and 2 Raphidophyceae, caused a bloom in the southeastern coastal waters mainly in Chinhae Bay in Korea from March to September since 1982. Scrippsiella trochoidea and Heterocapsa triquetra bloomed in March then ensued a vernal species Heterosigma akashiwo. And Cochlodinium sp. and Alexandrium affine were occurred as causative organism in fall next to the estival dinoflagellates Gyrodinium instriatum and Pheopolykrikos hartmannii. Among them, spatio-temporal similarity of outbreak was significant in Heterosigma akashiwo since 1983, and a bit apparent for Cochlodinium sp.. The density was in the level from $10^3\;to\;10^5\;cells/ml$ and was dependent on the cell size rather than environmental characteristics.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.167-171
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• 1999

Since toxic Alexandrium catenella and non-toxic A. fraterculus are morphologically similar, they are difficult to discriminate under the light microscope. However, a novel technology, such as fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-conjugated lectin probes enables easy and rapid differentiation. Toxic A. catenella bound seven different lectins, whereas the non-toxic A. fratercuzus did not bind Arachis hypogaea (PNA) lectin. In addition, Pseudo-nitrschia species in this study were also difficult to identify to species level with light microscope techniques, but it was possible to classify them using fluorescent lectins. Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata, P. subfraudulenta and P. pungens bound Canavalia ensiformis (ConA), whereas P. subpaclfica did not, and P. pungens also bound Ricinus communis (RCA). These results imply that lectin could be used as a critical tool in the differentiation of P. multistriata, P. subfraudulenta and P. pungens. However, P. subpacifica was not differentiated by the lectins tested. Therefore, it isconcluded that lectin probes are useful for discriminating toxic A. catenella from non-toxic A. fraterculus, and for the identification of some Pseudo-nitzschia species. In addition, this method has a great potential to speed and detection between non-toxic and toxic harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Korean biotoxin monitoring systems.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.183-190
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• 2005

We investigated the seasonal variability of tree alkaline phosphatase activity in seawater and alkaline phosphatase hydrolysable phosphorus (APHP) at 3 stations in Hiroshima Bay using alkaline phosphatase extracted from the dinoflagellates Alexandrium tamarense and Gymnodinium catenatum. The dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) was lower than $1\;{\mu}M$ all samples; the lowest values were in May. The amount of APHP was high at the surface and bottom waters of all stations in May, showing DIP-depleted conditions. In August and November, the amount of APHP was much less than the amount of APHP in May, indicating that the availability of dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) for these species was low and/or uptake during the dinoflagellate blooming might have occurred in the area. The results obtained from short-term variations of AP activity might suggest that the growth of dinoflagellates in this season may be partly supported by the AP produced by other diatoms.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2010

Utilization of dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) and alkaline phosphatase (APase) activity by Skeletonema costatum, Chaetoceros didymus, Alexandrium tamarense and Heterosigma akashiwo under the phosphorus deficient condition were examined in the laboratory. S. costatum, C. didymus, A. tamarense and H. akashiwo could make use of phosphomonoester and nucleotide compounds for the growth of them as a phosphorus source. APase activity of S. costatum, C. didymus, A. tamarense and H. akashiwo began to be activated at dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) concentrations less than $0.30\;{\mu}M$, $0.33\;{\mu}M$, $2.04\;{\mu}M$ and $0.63\;{\mu}M$ respectively, and their maximum APase activity were $0.01\;pmol\;cell^{-1}\;hr^{-1}$, $0.11\;pmol\;cell^{-1}\;hr^{-1}$, $1.63\;pmol\;cell^{-1}\;hr^{-1}$ and $0.19\;pmol\;cell^{-1}\;hr^{-1}$, respectively. Although each phytoplankton species displayed different APase activity for DOP utilization, their maximum APase activities were higher than maximum phosphorus uptake rates, inferring that these species might be able to keep growing under DIP-limited conditions thought utilizing effectively the hydrolized product of DOP. This result also implies that utilization of DOP might contribute to not only the growth of red tide forming phytoplankton but also the interspecific competition among phytoplankton species in coastal environments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Fisheries Technology Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.271-272
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• 2001

Taxonomic studies of HAB species have been hindered by paucity of informative morphology, phenotypic variation under different environmental ifluences, lack of knowledge on their sexual reproduction. In Korea, two PSP incidents resulting in human deaths after eating contaminated mussels broke out in 1985 (Chang et al.1987 and 1996 (Lee et al, 1997). (omitted)