Alexandrium catenella (Dinophyceae), a toxic ribotype expanding in the NW Mediterranean Sea

By A. Penna, E. Garcés, Magda Vila, M. Giacobbe, S. Fraga, A. Lugliè, I. Bravo, E. Bertozzini, C. Vernesi. 2005

93 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The presence of the paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella in the north western (NW) Mediterranean Sea has been known since 1983. From this date on, the species has spread along the Spanish and Italian coastlines. Information concerning A. catenella isolates in the NW Mediterranean Sea was gained through phylogenetic studies. Twenty established toxic cultures of A. catenella taken from various NW Mediterranean Sea locations were analysed by nucleotide sequencing of the 5.8S rDNA and internal transcribed spacer regions. These rDNA ribosomal markers resulted useful in delineating the phylogenetic position of this species in the genus Alexandrium as well as in determining relationships between A. catenella isolates from different geographic areas. The phylogenetic position of the Mediterranean A. catenella ribotype, when compared to the “Alexandrium tamarense/catenella/fundyense species complex”, fits this species complex well. All the Mediterranean A.catenella isolates were constituted by only one genetic ribotype. By comparing the isolate sequences with those of other geographic areas, it revealed that the Mediterranean A. catenella ribotype was closely related to the A. catenella from Japan, Western Pacific Ocean. It was also evident that in temperate Japanese waters, a genetic variability was detected within A. catenella isolates; in fact, all strains resulted divergent showing as many as 15 mutational steps. The possibility that A. catenella has been recently introduced into the Mediterranean basin from temperate Asian areas is discussed.

Subfields: Environmental Chemistry, Molecular Biology, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bc554637274b6ed47e82d5a09713acec34008596

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In Environmental Chemistry

1. E. Garcés
2. I. Bravo
3. R. Figueroa
4. Y. Collos
5. J. Burkholder
6. A. Penna
7. Magda Vila
8. D. Anderson

In Molecular Biology

1. E. Garcés
2. R. Figueroa
3. I. Bravo
4. D. Anderson
5. Magda Vila
6. M. D. DE SALAS
7. M. Giacobbe
8. J. Burkholder

In Oceanography

1. E. Garcés
2. I. Bravo
3. R. Figueroa
4. A. Penna
5. Magda Vila
6. Y. Collos
7. M. Masó
8. D. Anderson

Citations in the corpus

• Influence of temperature, salinity and irradiance on the growth and cell yield of the harmful red tide dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella colonizing Mediterranean waters (2011, background): “…such as the Pacific Ocean off North America (Scholin and Anderson, 1994), Chile (Cordova and Muller, 2002), New Zealand (MacKenzie et al., 2004), Japan, China, South Korea (Adachi et al., 1996; Yeung et al., 2002) and the western Mediterranean sea since 1994 (Vila et al., 2001; Penna et al., 2005).”
• Analysis of rRNA gene content in the Mediterranean dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella and Alexandrium taylori: implications for the quantitative real-time PCR-based monitoring methods (2010, background): “Widespread blooms of Alexandrium catenella and A. taylori have been described over the last decade along the Spanish, French and Italian coasts (Giacobbe and Yang 1999; Vila et al. 2001; Penna et al. 2005).”
• Alexandrium catenella and Alexandrium minutum blooms in the Mediterranean Sea: Toward the identification of ecological niches (2008, background): “A. minutum was first described in the Mediterranean Sea forming a red water discoloration inAlexandriaharbour,Egypt(Halim, 1960) and it has since then been widely reported from the Mediterranean (Delgado et al., 1990; Montresor et al., 1990; Honsell, 1993; Giacobbe et al., 1996; Forteza et al., 19”
• Potential transport of harmful algae via relocation of bivalve molluscs (2008, background): “…has been reported or suggested as a potential vector for transport into new environments of various non-native microorganisms such as parasites, pathogenic bacteria (Carriker 1992, Ruesink et al. 2005), and harmful algae (Bricelj et al. 1993, Vila et al. 2001, Lilly et al. 2002, Penna et al. 2005).”
• Alien Marine Species in the Mediterranean - the 100 'Worst Invasives' and their Impact (2006, unknown): “Η armful Algal Blooms (HABs) are increasing both in intensity and frequency in the Mediterranean Sea (GARCÉS et al., 2000; PENNA et al., 2005).”
• Monitoring of HAB species in the Mediterranean Sea through molecular methods (2006, background): “…of the Tyrrhenian, South Adriatic and Catalan Seas [North Western (NW) Mediterranean] in the summers of 2001 and 2003 (Vila et al., 2001b; Sansoni et al., 2003) focussed our attention also to toxic benthic microalgae that are considered potentially harmful to human health (Penna et al., 2005b).”
• A review of the molecular evidence for ballast water introduction of the toxic dinoflagellates Gymnodinium catenatum and the Alexandrium “tamarensis complex” to Australasia (2007, background): “5): North American, Temperate Asian, European Mediterranean and Tasmanian (Scholin and Anderson, 1994, 1996; Scholin et al., 1994, 1995; Scholin, 1998; Lilly et al., 2002; John et al., 2003; Penna et al., 2005; Sebastian et al., 2005).”
• Species boundaries and global biogeography of the Alexandrium tamarense complex (Dinophyceae) 1 (2007, background): “For example, the source of Alexandrium populations in Argentina is unknown, but the spread of these organisms northward through Uruguay and Brazil is thought to be connected to the Malvinas current (Gayoso 2001, Persich et al. 2006).”