• ALGAE
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.129-138
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• 2009

DNA-based discrimination of species is a powerful way for morphologically otherwise similar species, like centric diatoms. Here, the author sequenced long-range nuclear ribosomal DNAs, spanning from the 18S to the D5 region of the 28S rDNA, of Stephanodiscus, particularly including a Korean isolate. By comparisons, high DNA similarities were detected from the rDNAs of nine Stephanodiscus (>99.4% in 18S rDNA, >98.0% in 28S rDNA). Their genetic distances, however, were significantly different (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 0.01) compared to two related genera, namely Cyclotella and Discostella. In addition, genetic distances of 18S rDNAs were significantly different (Student’s t-test, p = 0.000) against those of the 28S rDNAs according to individual genera (Cyclotella, Discostella, and Stephanodiscus). Phylogenetic analyses showed that Stephanodiscus and Discostella showed a sister taxon relationship, and their clade was separated from a cluster of Cyclotella (1.00 PP, 100% BP). This suggests that Stephanodiscus has highly conserved sequences of both 18S and 28S rDNA; however, Stephanodiscus is well-separated from other freshwater centric diatoms, such as Cyclotella and Discostella, at the generic level.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 1988

Studies on species compostion, promary production of benthic algal assemblage were carried out along a channel of the salt marsh near Inch'on, Kyonggi Bay, Korea. Possible biological, physical and KDICical factors controlling the aglal assemblage were also examined. The oveall diatoms were encountered one hundred and thirty-seven taxa, of which the dominant species were Paralia sulcata and Cymatosira belgica. These two species accounted for 32.6% relative abundance throughout the study period. Diatom taxa had no clear seasonal pattern in abundance analysis. But at the algal blooming period in spring, euglenoids occurred with a high abundance. The chlorophyll a content of benthic algae showed definite seasonal pattern. The algal biomass of the appeared to influence the spatial fluctuation in the algal biomass of the channel was regulated primarily by water content of sediment. Grazing by zoobenthos apperaed to influence the spatial fluctuation in the algal biomass of the sediment surface. The algal photosynthesis was measured in the laboratory with oxygen method. Photo-synthetic rate was independent of the temperature under the lower irradiance. The gross production from March to November was estimated to be 190g C/m2 at the channel slope. Photosynthetic efficiency was 0.37% on the basis of the photosyntherically active radiation for the study period.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.242-250
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• 2023

Comparative gene identification-58 (CGI-58) is an activating protein of triacylglycerol (TAG) lipase. It has a variety of catalytic activities whereby it may play different roles in diverse organisms. In this study, a homolog of CGI-58 in Phaeodactylum tricornutum (PtCGI-58) was identified. PtCGI-58 was localized in mitochondria by GFP fusion protein analysis, which is different from the reported subcellular localization of CGI-58 in animals and plants. Respectively, PtCGI-58 overexpression resulted in increased neutral lipid content and TAG accumulation by 42-46% and 21-32%. Likewise, it also increased the relative content of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and in particular, the EPA content in TAGs almost doubled. Transcript levels of genes involved in de novo fatty acid synthesis and mitochondrial β-oxidation were significantly upregulated in PtCGI-58 overexpression strains compared with wild-type cells. Our findings suggest that PtCGI-58 may mediate the breakdown of lipids in mitochondria and the recycling of acyl chains derived from mitochondrial β-oxidation into TAG biosynthesis. Moreover, this study potentially illuminates new functions for CGI-58 in lipid homeostasis and provides a strategy to enrich EPA in algal TAGs.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.215-225
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• 2004

Biomass and community composition of microphytobenthos in the Saemankeum tidal flat were studied by HPLC analysis of the photosynthetic pigments from November 2001 to November 2002. The environmental factors of sediment were also investigated to examine the relationship between microphytobenthos biomass and sedimentary environments. The detected photosynthetic pigments of microphytobenthos were chlorophyll a, b, c, fucoxanthin, 19'-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin, violaxanthin, diadinoxanthin, alloxanthin, diatoxanthin, zeaxanthin+lutein, peridinin and beta-carotene. Pheophytin a, the degradation product of chlorophyll a, was also detected. The results of pigmen analysis suggest the presence of diatom (fucoxanthin), euglenophytes (chlorophyll b), chlorophytes (chlorophyll b + lutein), cyanobacteria (zeaxanthin), cryptophytes (alloxanthin), chrysophytes (fucoxanthin + violaxanthin), prymnesiophytes (19'-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin) and dinoflagellates (peridinin). Chlorophyll a concentration in the top 0.5 cm of sediment was in the range of $0.24\;mg{\cdot}m\^{-2}\;-32.11\;mg{\cdot}m\^{-2}$ in the study area. The increase of chlorophyll a concentration in the spring indicates the occurrence of a microphytobenthic bloom. In the summer, there was a sharp decrease of the chlorophyll a concentration which was probably due to high grazing activity by macrobenthos. The annual mean chlorophyll a concentration in the study area was low compared to that in most of other tidal flat areas probably due to active resuspension of microphytobenthos and high grazing activity by macrobenthos. There was no clear relationship between microphytobenthos biomass and sedimentary environments because of a large variety of physical, chemical and biological factors, Pigment analysis indicated that while diatoms were dominated in the microphytobenthic community of the Geojon tidal flat, euglenophytes and/or chlorophytes coexisted with diatoms in the Mangyung River tidal flat.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.27-41
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• 2008

Distribution characteristics of phytoplankton community were investigated by HPLC and flow cytometry in Jeju Strait and the Northern East China Sea (NECS) in May 2004, in order to understand the relationship between physical environmental factors and distribution pattern of phytoplankton communities. Based on temperature and salinity data, three distinct water masses were identified; warm and saline Tsushima Warm Current (TWC), which is flowing from northwest of Jeju Island, warm and low saline water at the center of Jeju Strait, which is originated from China Coastal Water (CCW) and relatively cold and high saline water originated from Yellow Sea at the bottom of the Jeju Strait. At Jeju Strait, less saline water (<33 psu) of 15 km width occupied surface layer up to 20 m which located at 20 km offshore and strong thermal front between warm and saline water and cold and less saline water was found in the middle of the Jeju Strait. Vertical transect of temperature and salinity at the NECS also showed that low saline (<33 psu) water occupied the upper 20 m layer and cold and saline water was present at the eastern part. Chl a was measured as $0.06{\sim}3.07\;{\mu}g/L$. Spring bloom of phytoplankton was recognized by the high concentrations of Chl a at the low saline water masses influenced by the CCW and subsurface chlorophyll maximum layer appeared between $20{\sim}30\;m$ depth, which was at thermocline depth or below. Abundances of Synechococcus and picoeukaryote were $0.2{\sim}9.5{\times}10^4\;cells/mL$ and $0.43{\sim}4.3{\times}10^4\;cells/mL$, respectively. Dinoflagellate, diatom and prymnesiophyte were major groups and minor groups were chlorophyte+prasinophyte, chrysophyte, cryptophyte and cyanophyte. Especially high abundance of dinoflagellate was identified by high concentration (>1\;{\mu}g/L$) of peridinin at the bottom of the thermocline, which showed an outbreak of red tide by high density of dinoflagellates. Abundances of picoeukaryote in Jeju Strait were about $5{\sim}10$ times higher than abundance measured in Kuroshio water and showed a good correlation with Chl b (Pras+Viola), which implies the most of population of picoeukaryote was composed of prasinophytes. Prochlorococcus was not detected at all, which suggests that Kuroshio Current did not directly influenced on the study area. Based on the strong negative correlations between biomass of phytoplankton (Chl a) and temperature+salinity, the primary production and biomass of phytoplankton in the study area were controlled by the nutrients supply from CCW.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.95-100
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• 2012

This study was determined to analysis marine environmental and phytoplankton monitoring in Wando coastal waters in August during the period of 2009-2010 and provided the basic environmental data against Southwest Sea of Korea. In August, 2009, the distribution of water temperature and salinity showed an unique characteristics for all of stations, which was associated with a long duration of rainfall after July, 2009 and a lack of sunshine. In the lower of August, 2010, the stratification of water temperature and salinity was shown, which was caused by an intensive sunshine after the middle of August, 2010. Gangjin Bay and Gogeundo waters showed a highly different water temperature and transparency. It is thought that two regions have a distinct water mass and characteristics. In dissolved oxygen and oxygen saturation were higher according to higher water depth regardless of stations. In August, 2009, different dominant species occurred that Gangjin Bay showed a higher cell density of diatom, but Gonyaulax polygramma played an important role in dominant species in Gogeundo waters. It is associated with the introduction red tide water of G. polygramma occurring to southern coastal water in August, 2009. In August, 2010, diatom was extremely higher cell density compared with that of dinoflagellate that regarded as adaptive microrganism against higher quantity of suspended solid in Wando waters. Although Wando has a record of Cochlodinium red tide, this species may be difficult to grow and persist. Dominant species, diatom, play an important role in food organism for shellfish and forming a ecological lineage.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.325-335
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• 2015

Concerns about water quality in the Nakdong River have been raised because the Nakdong River will change from a lotic environment to a lentic environmental due to the installation of eight weirs to be constructed as part of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project. The rapid urbanization and industrialization of the middle and the lower reaches of Nakdong River causes the indiscreet discharge of uncleanly living sewage and industrial wastewater. And the water quality of lower reaches of Nakdong River is getting seriously worse. Owing to the water shortage of Nakdong River and the closing of reaches because of the estuary dyke in the dry season, the velocity of a moving fluid is almost accumulated under 0.03m/sec. Then a pollutant is piled up on the bottom of the river. Polluted sediment is formed and nutrition level of water is increased more and more. The eutrophication state propagated to dark brown or green from eutrophication often comes out. Therefore in this study, we measured Chl. a of chlorophyll sensor (YSI6600V2) and aceton extraction through field observation in the Nakdong River and Samrangjin. And we evaluated the reliability of chlorophyll sensor. In correlation analysis between chlorophyll sensor and aceton extraction, it shows high relation in general. And it also shows high relation among the chlorophyll sensor and aceton extraction of the dominant diatom (Skeletonema costatum), Dinophyta (Prorocentrum minimum) in the Nakdong River estuary by laboratory analysis results.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1155-1167
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• 2008

Chlorophyll a (chl a) has been used as an indicator for phytoplankton biomass in pelagic ecosystems due to the relative ease of measurement and selectivity for autotrophs in mixed plankton assemblages. However, the use of chi a as an indicator for phytoplankton biomass is restricted due to its inability to resolve taxonomic differences of phytoplankton and the highly variable relationship of chi a with phytoplankton. Here, we describe the analysis of High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) photosynthetic pigment data using CHEMTAX, which is a matrix factorization program that uses chemical taxonomic indices (phytoplankton carotenoids) to quantify the abundance of phytoplankton groups. Compared to direct microscopic counting that can distinguish species within broad groups, the resolution of taxonomic groups by CHEMTAX is generally coarse. It can only distinguish between diatoms, dinoflagellates, cryptophytes, cyanobacteria, chlorophytes, prasinophytes, and haptophytes. However, CHEMTAX analysis is much faster and less expensive than microscopic counting methods. HPLC pigment observations were taken in the spring, summer, fall, and winter in$ 2005\sim2006$ within Gamak Bay, South Korea. CHEMTAX results revealed that diatoms were the dominant taxonomic group in Gamak Bay. In inner Gamak Bay, the ratio between diatoms and cryptophytes was $75\sim80%$, and the ratio between dinoflagellates and cryptophytes was $10\sim15%$. In outer Gamak Bay, the ratio between diatoms and cryptophytes was $85\sim90%$, and the ratio between dinflagellates and cryptophytes was only $1\sim5%$. The population structure was seasonal. Relative diatom populations were less in the summer than the winter season.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.99-111
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• 2011

To estimate the effects of limitation nutrients for phytoplankton growth and its influences on short-term variations of a winter phytoplankton community structure, we investigated the abiotic and biotic factors of surface and bottom waters at 20 stations of inner and offshore areas from 6 to 7 February in Gwangyang Bay, Korea. Also, several algal bio-assay studies were conducted to identify any additional nutrient effects on phytoplankton assemblage using surface water for the assay. The dominant species in the bay was diatom Skeletonema costatum, which occupied more than 70% of total species in most stations (St.1-16) of the inner bay. According to a cluster and multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis based on phytoplankton community data from each station, the bay was divided into three groups. The first group included stations from the south-western parts of Myodo lsland, which can be characterized as a semien-closed eutrophic area with high phytoplankton abundance. The second group included most stations from the north-eastern part of Myodo lsland, influenced indirectly by surface water currents from offshore of the bay. The standing phytoplankton crops were lower than those of the first group. The other cluster was restricted to samples collected from offshore of the bay. In the bay, silicon (Si) and phosphorus (P) were not a major limiting factor for phytoplankton production. However, since the DIN: DIP and DSi: DIN ratios clearly demonstrated that there were potential stoichiometric N limitations, nitrogen (N) was considered as a limiting factor. Based on the algal bio-assay, in vivo fluorescence values in N (+) added experiments were higher compared to control and P added experiments. Our results suggested that nitrogen may act as one of the most important factors in controlling primary production during winter in Gwangyang Bay.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.16-26
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• 2007

To study the succession of epilithic diatoms on the artificial substrate, we investigated environmental factors and the diatom assemblages biweekly from Mar. 2004 to Feb. 2005 at 2 stations in the lower part of the Han River. A total of 60 taxa, representing 2 orders, 3 suborders, 8 families, 17 genera, 51 species, 7 varieties and 2 forms were identified, and mean number of species were 19 species in spring, 20 in summer, 22 in autumn and 22 in winter. Standing crops of epilithic diatoms varied extensively by months and stations; mean values of those were $3.2{\times}10^4$ cells $cm^{-2}$ in spring, $1.9{\times}10^4$ in summer, $1.7{\times}10^4$ in autumn and $1.8{\times}10^5$ in winter. Chlorophyll a concentrations were also similarly showed as variations of the diatom assemblages. Succession of the diatoms in St. 1 was as follows; Melosira varians, Fragilaria capucina, Cyclotella comta, Nitzschia palea in spring, Fragilaria capucina in summer, Aulacoseira granulata var. angustissima in autumn, Aulacoseira granulata var. angustissima and Melosira varians, Cymbella minuta in winter. In station 2, Aulacoseira granulata and Nitzschia palea dominated in spring as a pioneer in early stage of succession, Fragilaria capucina in summer, and Nitzschia palea in winter. According to Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), there showed similar to that of succession of epilithic diatoms within St. 1 and St. 2, and they were not changed by stations but seasons. Nitzschia palea belonged to saprophilous taxa correlated with nitrogen sources and suspended solids. Meanwhile, Fragilaria capucina and Cymbella minuta included in xenosaprobic taxa show correlation with DO and pH. Eurysaprobic taxa correlated with all environmental factors.