Molecular phylogenetics and morphology of Gambierdiscus yasumotoi from tropical eastern Australia

Effects of temperature, salinity and composition of the dinoflagellate assemblage on the growth of Gambierdiscus carpenteri isolated from the Great Barrier Reef

“…The culture NQAIF116 was characterized by Murray et al (2014) using both calcofluor white staining and epifluorescence microscopy and via phylogenetic reconstruction using the near complete 18S rRNA gene and the D8-D10 region of the 28S rRNA gene.…”

“…To determine the identity of the second strain (NQAIF380), the D8-D10 region of the 28S rRNA gene was obtained and a phylogeny constructed using a subsample of 37 sequences employed by Murray et al (2014) representing 15 clades of the genus Gambierdiscus sensu lato-i.e including the globular species which have recently been moved to the genus Fukuyoa (Gómez et al, 2015). Deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) was extracted using a modified Chelex 1 protocol (Walsh et al, 1991) as outlined in .…”

“…Strengthening of the EAC during the Austral summer promotes the seasonal transport of tropical fish into temperate waters as far south as Merimbula (36 S, 149 E) in southern NSW (Figueira and Booth, 2010). Recent records of G. carpenteri and other benthic toxic dinoflagellates in Merimbula also suggests that the EAC was a likely primary transport mechanism from GBR tropical waters (Heimann et al, 2011;Kohli et al, 2014;Murray et al, 2014). In comparison to the dominance of coral reefs in tropical regions, rocky coastlines and macroalgal forests dominate temperate marine habitats, which may provide suitable substrates for colonisation by benthic toxic dinoflagellates.…”

Ciguatera

“…nov., and Gambierdiscus yasumotoi; Nishimura et al, 2014 and references therein) currently being recognized in addition to Gambierdiscus toxicus, the latter believed to be the main causative organism for ciguaterapoisoning events (Lewis, 2006). The genus, however, contains cryptic species, and it can be expected that future morphological and molecular analyses of field samples will add to the taxonomic diversity of this genus (Murray et al, 2014 are deposited in thecal vesicles between the inner and outer continuous membranes (the Amphiesma). The regions where the thecal plates overlap (the sutures) gives rise to a complex pattern of plate arrangements called tabulation, which is used to distinguish genera and species of armored dinoflagellates (Nishimura et al, 2014 and references therein).…”

“…The regions where the thecal plates overlap (the sutures) gives rise to a complex pattern of plate arrangements called tabulation, which is used to distinguish genera and species of armored dinoflagellates (Nishimura et al, 2014 and references therein). For species of the genus Gambierdiscus, however, differences in tabulation are very subtle, so that light-and scanning-electron microscopy alone is insufficient for unequivocal identification (Murray et al, 2014;Nishimura et al, 2014). Cells of Gambierdiscus are typically photosynthetic, anteriorly/posteriorly compressed and lentil to ellipsoid in shape (except for G. ruetzleri and G. yasumotoi, where the cells are globular (Litaker et al, 2009)) containing a dorsally located u-shaped nucleus (Nishimura et al, 2014).…”