Dinoflagellates are ubiquitous marine and freshwater protists. As free-living photosynthetic plankton, they account for ~50% of the primary productivity of oceans and lakes. As photosynthetic symbionts, they provide essential nutrients to most corals and numerous other marine invertebrates, supporting coral reefs, one of the most diverse ecosystems on earth, a rich food source, and a potential ...

The complete absolute configuration of goniodomin A, an actin-targeting polyether macrolide isolated from the marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium hiranoi, was established from analysis of ROESY experiments and coupling constants, synthesis of suitable model compounds for NMR spectroscopic comparisons, degradation experiments, and correlation with synthetic reference compounds.

We developed dinoflagellate-specific 18S rRNA gene primers. PCR amplification using these oligonucleotides for a picoplanktonic DNA sample from Long Island Sound yielded 24 clones, and all but one of these clones were dinoflagellates primarily belonging to undescribed and Amoebophrya-like lineages. These results highlight the need for a systematic investigation of picodinoflagellate diversity i...

Periodic acid-Schiff staining, acid phosphatase localization, and yellow autofluorescence have been correlated with the PAS-body of Gonyaulax polyedra for the first time. PAS- staining and acid phosphatase activity are both correlated with the PAS-body of Gonyaulax tamarensis. These results that the PAS-body of these marine dinoflagellate algae functions in subcellular digestion.

The absolute configuration of the chiral center at the C15 position of a novel branched-chain fatty acid derived from a new ceramide isolated from the epiphytic dinoflagellate Coolia monotis was determined to be of R from by reversed-phase HPLC after cleavage to 12-methylpentadecanoic acid and subsequent conversion with the chiral fluorescent reagent, (1R,2R)-2-(2,3-anthracenedicarboximido)cycl...

Fifty-seven samples taken from ten piston cores collected along a transect off the continental margin of the Northern Basin, Ross Sea, Antarctica were analyzed for palynomorphs. Moderately diverse assemblages of marine microplankton and terrestrial palynomorphs were recovered. The palynomorph assemblages have been subdivided into two main groups: the in-situ flora (including acritarchs, dinofla...

Title of Dissertation: DINOFLAGELLATE GENOMIC ORGANIZATION AND PHYLOGENETIC MARKER DISCOVERY UTILIZING DEEP SEQUENCING DATA Gregory Scott Mendez, Doctor of Philosophy, 2016 Dissertation directed by: Professor Charles F. Delwiche, Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics Dinoflagellates possess large genomes in which most genes are present in many copies. This has made studies of their genomic organi...

The most widely distributed dinoflagellate plastid contains chlorophyll c(2) and peridinin as the major carotenoid. A second plastid type, found in taxa such as Karlodinium micrum and Karenia spp., contains chlorophylls c(1) + c(2) and 19'-hexanoyloxy-fucoxanthin and/or 19'-butanoyloxy-fucoxanthin but lacks peridinin. Because the presence of chlorophylls c(1) + c(2) and fucoxanthin is typical o...

Marine microbial interactions involving eukaryotes and their parasites play an important role in shaping the structure of phytoplankton communities. These interactions may alter population densities of the main host, which in turn may have consequences for the other concurrent species. The effect generalist parasitoids exert on a community is strongly dependent on the degree of host specificity...

statistical studies on palynology contents of late cretaceous to paleocene age gurpi formation in a surface section in zagros basin,sw iran indicate changes in abundance, species diversity, ratio of spiniferites to cyclonephelium (s/c), palynological marine index(pmi) values and organic facies. these palynological variations clearly reflect fluctuations in relative sea-level and depositionalenv...