摘要

In southern Brazil, mixotrophic dinoflagellates belonging to the Dinophysis acuminata complex have recently been involved in diarrheic shellfish poisoning episodes through the production of lipophilic toxins such as okadaic acid (OA) and dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX-1). The present investigation used a combination of laboratory cultures and field surveys at three large estuarine systems in that region to examine toxin retention in Dinophysis spp. cells under optimum or growth-limiting conditions. This study represents the first successful culture of a Dinophysis isolate from the Atlantic South America region. Starved D. acuminata complex cells reached 5.6-fold higher cellular OA quotas (up to 18 pg cell(-1)) than Mesodinium rubrum-fed cultures 20 days after inoculation in the laboratory. Moreover, in field samples, light-limited cells at the bottom of a stratified water column were less abundant, yet 6.6- to 11-fold more toxic (up to 26.4 pg OA and 1.7 pg DTX-1 cell(-1)) than those located at the illuminated surface. This phenomenon of toxin retention by slow-dividing cells may partially explain the enormous variation in cell toxin quota found within Dinophysis spp. populations from a single location, and it may have serious implications for cell count-based monitoring program in bivalve aquaculture areas. In fact, only low to moderate OA levels were detected in the digestive glands of oysters Crassostrea spp. (up to 17.8 ng g(-1)) and the guts and livers of filter-feeding fish (44.7 ng g(-1)) during the present study, despite the relatively high Dinophysis cell densities (up to 19,500 cells L-1) found in the field.

  • 出版日期2014-8

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