Cnidarian-dinoflagellate photosynthetic symbioses are fundamental to biologically diverse and productive coral reef ecosystems. The hallmark of this symbiotic relationship is the ability of dinoflagellate symbionts to supply their cnidarian host with a wide range of nutrients. Many aspects of this association nevertheless remain poorly characterized, including the exact identity of the transfer...

Dinoflagellates make up a diverse array of fatty acids and polyketides. A necessary precursor for their synthesis is malonyl-CoA formed by carboxylating acetyl CoA using the enzyme acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). To date, information on dinoflagellate ACC is limited. Through transcriptome analysis in Amphidinium carterae, we found three full-length homomeric type ACC sequences; no heteromeric typ...

Bioluminescence represents an operational threat to naval nighttime operations because the flow field associated with their motion stimulates naturally occurring plankton. In the littoral, the primary sources of bioluminescence are dinoflagellates, common unicellular plankton that are also known to form red tides. Dinoflagellate bioluminescence is stimulated by flow stress of sufficient magnitu...

Dinoflagellates are unique among eukaryotes in their unusual 'dinokaryons' - nuclei that lack bulk histones. A new study finds that acquisition of a novel dinoflagellate chromatin protein was an early step in the transition to a nucleus lacking detectable nucleosomes.

The dinoflagellates are an extremely diverse group of algae closely related to the Apicomplexa and the ciliates. Much work has previously been undertaken to determine the presence of various biochemical pathways within dinoflagellate mitochondria. However, these studies were unable to identify several key transcripts including those encoding proteins involved in the pyruvate dehydrogenase compl...

This study evaluated the parasitism by Anacanthorus penilabiatus (Monogenoidea) and Piscinoodinium pillulare (Dinoflagellida) in the gills of “pacu”, Piaractus mesopotamicus supplemented with chromium in the diet. Randomised delineation by using factorial scheme (4x2x2) for Monogenoidea and 4x2x3 for Dinoflagellate with four levels of chromium (0, 6, 12, 18mg/kg diet), two stocking densities (4...

A new photosynthetic, sand-dwelling marine dinoflagellate, Ailadinium reticulatum gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Jordanian coast in the Gulf of Aqaba, northern Red Sea, based on detailed morphological and molecular data. A. reticulatum is a large (53-61 μm long and 38-48 μm wide), dorsoventrally compressed species, with the epitheca smaller than the hypotheca. The theca of this new spe...

Nuclear and chloroplast-encoded small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences were obtained from several strains of the toxic dinoflagellate Gymnodinium galatheanum. Phylogenetic analyses and comparison of sequences indicate that the chloroplast sequences show a higher degree of sequence divergence than the nuclear homologue. The chloroplast sequences were chosen as targets for the development of a 5'-...

Endosymbiosis creates a unique osmotic circumstance. Hosts are not only responsible for balancing their internal osmolarity with respect to the external environment, but they must also maintain a compatible osmotic environment for their endosymbionts, which may themselves contribute to the net osmolarity of the host cell through molecular fluxes and/or exchange. Cnidarian hosts that harbor intr...