Predatory dinoflagellate

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Acute pfiesteriosis in tilapia Top row: unaffected fish; bottom row: fish preyed upon by the carnivorous alga Pfiesteria shumwayae. Tilapia Pfiesteriosis.jpg
Top row: unaffected fish; bottom row: fish preyed upon by the carnivorous alga Pfiesteria shumwayae .

Predatory dinoflagellates are predatory heterotrophic or mixotrophic alveolates that derive some or most of their nutrients from digesting other organisms. About one half of dinoflagellates lack photosynthetic pigments and specialize in consuming other eukaryotic cells, and even photosynthetic forms are often predatory. [1] [2]

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Organisms that derive their nutrition in this manner include Oxyrrhis marina , which feeds phagocytically on phytoplankton, [3] Polykrikos kofoidii , which feeds on several species of red-tide and/or toxic dinoflagellates, [4] Ceratium furca , which is primarily photosynthetic but also capable of ingesting other protists such as ciliates, [5] Cochlodinium polykrikoides , which feeds on phytoplankton, [6] Gambierdiscus toxicus , which feeds on algae and produces a toxin that causes ciguatera fish poisoning when ingested, [7] and Pfiesteria and related species such as Luciella masanensis , which feed on diverse prey including fish skin and human blood cells. [8] [9] Predatory dinoflagellates can kill their prey by releasing toxins or phagocytize small prey directly. [10]

Some predatory algae have evolved extreme survival strategies. For example, Oxyrrhis marina can turn cannibalistic on its own species when no suitable non-self prey is available, [11] and Pfiesteria and related species have been discovered to kill and feed on fish, and since have been (mistakenly) referred to as carnivorous "algae" by the media.

Pfiesteria hysteria

The media has applied the term carnivorous or predatory algae mainly to Pfiesteria piscicida , Pfiesteria shumwayae and other Pfiesteria-like dinoflagellates implicated in harmful algal blooms and fish kills. [12] [13] Pfiesteria is named after the American protistologist Lois Ann Pfiester. It is an ambush predator that utilizes a hit and run feeding strategy by releasing a toxin that paralyzes the respiratory systems of susceptible fish, such as menhaden, thus causing death by suffocation. It then consumes the tissue sloughed off its dead prey. [14] Pfiesteria piscicida (Latin : fish killer) has been blamed for killing more than one billion fish in the Neuse and Pamlico river estuaries in North Carolina and causing skin lesions in humans in the 1990s. [13] It has been described as "skinning fish alive to feed on their flesh" [13] or chemically sensing fish and producing lethal toxins to kill their prey and feed off the decaying remains. [12] Its deadly nature has led to Pfiesteria being referred to as "killer algae" [15] [16] and has earned the organism the reputation as the " T. rex of the dinoflagellate world" [17] or "the Cell from Hell." [18]

The prominent and exaggerating media coverage of Pfiesteria as carnivorous algae attacking fish and humans has been implicated in causing "Pfiesteria hysteria" in the Chesapeake Bay in 1997 resulting in an apparent outbreak of human illness in the Pocomoke region in Maryland. [19] However, a study published the following year concluded the symptoms were unlikely to be caused by mass hysteria. [20]

Oxyrrhis marina Oxyrrhis marina.jpg
Oxyrrhis marina
Ceratium furca Ceratium furca.jpg
Ceratium furca

During the media coverage in the 1990s, Pfiesteria has been referred to as "super villain" [16] and subsequently has been used as such in several fictional works. A Pfiesteria subspecies killing humans featured in James Powlik's 1999 environmental thriller Sea Change . In Frank Schätzing's 2004 science fiction novel The Swarm, lobsters and crabs spread the killer alga Pfiesteria homicida to humans.

In Yann Martel's 2001 novel Life of Pi , the protagonist encounters a floating island of carnivorous algae inhabited by meerkats while shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean. At a book reading in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Martel explained that the carnivorous algae island had the purpose of representing the more fantastical of two competing stories in his novel and challenge the reader to a "leap of faith." [21]

In the 2005 National Geographic TV show Extraterrestrial , the alien organism termed Hysteria combines characteristics of Pfiesteria with those of cellular slime molds. Like Pfiesteria, Hysteria is a unicellular, microscopic predator capable of producing a paralytic toxin. Like cellular slime molds, it can release chemical stress signals that cause the cells to aggregate into a swarm which allows the newly formed superorganism to feed on much larger animals and produce a fruiting body that releases spores for reproduction. [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algal bloom</span> Spread of planktonic algae in water

An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term algae encompasses many types of aquatic photosynthetic organisms, both macroscopic multicellular organisms like seaweed and microscopic unicellular organisms like cyanobacteria. Algal bloom commonly refers to the rapid growth of microscopic unicellular algae, not macroscopic algae. An example of a macroscopic algal bloom is a kelp forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zooplankton</span> Heterotrophic protistan or metazoan members of the plankton ecosystem

Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community, having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents. Consequently, they drift or are carried along by currents in the ocean, or by currents in seas, lakes or rivers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinoflagellate</span> Unicellular algae with two flagella

The dinoflagellates are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered protists. Dinoflagellates are mostly marine plankton, but they also are common in freshwater habitats. Their populations vary with sea surface temperature, salinity, and depth. Many dinoflagellates are photosynthetic, but a large fraction of these are in fact mixotrophic, combining photosynthesis with ingestion of prey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alveolate</span> Superphylum of protists

The alveolates are a group of protists, considered a major clade and superphylum within Eukarya. They are currently grouped with the stramenopiles and Rhizaria among the protists with tubulocristate mitochondria into the SAR supergroup.

<i>Pfiesteria piscicida</i> Toxic dinoflagellate species

Pfiesteria piscicida is a dinoflagellate species of the genus Pfiesteria that some researchers claim was responsible for many harmful algal blooms in the 1980s and 1990s on the coast of North Carolina and Maryland. North Carolinian media in the 1990s referred to the organism as the cell from hell. It is known to populate estuaries. Piscicida means "fish-killer".

<i>Pfiesteria</i> Genus of single-celled organisms

Pfiesteria is a genus of heterotrophic dinoflagellates that has been associated with harmful algal blooms and fish kills. Pfiesteria complex organisms (PCOs) were claimed to be responsible for large fish kills in the 1980s and 1990s on the coast of North Carolina and in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. In reaction to the toxic outbreaks, six states along the US east coast have initiated a monitoring program to allow for rapid response in the case of new outbreaks and to better understand the factors involved in Pfiesteria toxicity and outbreaks. New molecular detection methods have revealed that Pfiesteria has a worldwide distribution.

<i>Pseudopfiesteria shumwayae</i> Species of single-celled organism

Pseudopfiesteria shumwayae is a species of heterotrophic dinoflagellates in the genus Pseudopfiesteria. It was first characterized in North Carolina in 2000. It can acquire the ability for photosynthesis through eating green algae and retaining their chloroplasts. It can also turn predatory and toxic. Strains of Pseudopfiesteria shumwayae have been implicated in fish kills around the US east coast. Pseudopfiesteria shumwayae has been described as having a less complex life cycle than Pfiesteria piscicida.

<i>Stentor</i> (ciliate) Genus of single-celled organisms

Stentor, sometimes called trumpet animalcules, are a genus of filter-feeding, heterotrophic ciliates, representative of the heterotrichs. They are usually horn-shaped, and reach lengths of two millimeters; as such, they are among the largest known extant unicellular organisms. They reproduce asexually through binary fission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myzozoa</span> Group of single-celled organisms

Myzozoa is a grouping of specific phyla within Alveolata, that either feed through myzocytosis, or were ancestrally capable of feeding through myzocytosis.

A mixotroph is an organism that can use a mix of different sources of energy and carbon, instead of having a single trophic mode on the continuum from complete autotrophy at one end to heterotrophy at the other. It is estimated that mixotrophs comprise more than half of all microscopic plankton. There are two types of eukaryotic mixotrophs: those with their own chloroplasts, and those with endosymbionts—and those that acquire them through kleptoplasty or through symbiotic associations with prey or enslavement of their organelles.

<i>Oxyrrhis marina</i> Species of single-celled organism

Oxyrrhis marina is a species of heterotrophic dinoflagellate with flagella that is widely distributed in the world's oceans.

<i>Polykrikos kofoidii</i> Species of single-celled organism

Polykrikos kofoidii is a species of phagotrophic marine pseudocolonial dinoflagellates that can capture and engulf other protist prey, including the toxic dinoflagellate, Alexandrium tamarense. P. kofoidii is of scientific interest due to its status as a predator of other dinoflagellates, a behavior that is significant in the control of algal blooms. It has a complex life cycle of both vegetative (asexual) and sexual reproduction complicated by its pseudocolonial structure.

<i>Cochlodinium polykrikoides</i> Species of single-celled organism

Cochlodinium polykrikoides is a species of red tide producing marine dinoflagellates known for causing fish kills around the world, and well known for fish kills in marine waters of Southeast Asia. C. polykrikoides has a wide geographic range, including North America, Central America, Western India, Southwestern Europe and Eastern Asia. Single cells of this species are ovoidal in shape, 30-50μm in length and 25-30μm in width.

Luciella masanensis is a species of heterotrophic marine dinoflagellates.

<i>Dinophysis acuminata</i> Species of dinoflagellate

Dinophysis acuminata is a marine plankton species of dinoflagellates that is found in coastal waters of the north Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The genus Dinophysis includes both phototrophic and heterotrophic species. D. acuminata is one of several phototrophic species of Dinophysis classed as toxic, as they produce okadaic acid which can cause diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP). Okadiac acid is taken up by shellfish and has been found in the soft tissue of mussels and the liver of flounder species. When contaminated animals are consumed, they cause severe diarrhoea. D. acuminata blooms are constant threat to and indication of diarrhoeatic shellfish poisoning outbreaks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nematocyst (dinoflagellate)</span>

A nematocyst is a subcellular structure or organelle containing extrusive filaments found in two families of athecate dinoflagellates, the Warnowiaceae and Polykrikaceae. It is distinct from the similar subcellular structures found in the cnidocyte cells of cnidarians, a group of multicellular organisms including jellyfish and corals; such structures are also often called nematocysts, and cnidocytes are sometimes referred to as nematocytes. It is unclear whether the relationship between dinoflagellate and cnidarian nematocysts is a case of convergent evolution or common descent, although molecular evidence has been interpreted as supporting an endosymbiotic origin for cnidarian nematocysts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polykrikaceae</span> Family of single-celled organisms

The Polykrikaceae are a family of athecate dinoflagellates of the order Gymnodiniales. Members of the family are known as polykrikoids. The family contains two genera: Polykrikos and Pheopolykrikos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixotrophic dinoflagellate</span> Plankton

Dinoflagellates are eukaryotic plankton, existing in marine and freshwater environments. Previously, dinoflagellates had been grouped into two categories, phagotrophs and phototrophs. Mixotrophs, however include a combination of phagotrophy and phototrophy. Mixotrophic dinoflagellates are a sub-type of planktonic dinoflagellates and are part of the phylum Dinoflagellata. They are flagellated eukaryotes that combine photoautotrophy when light is available, and heterotrophy via phagocytosis. Dinoflagellates are one of the most diverse and numerous species of phytoplankton, second to diatoms.

<i>Polykrikos</i> Genus of single-celled organisms

Polykrikos is one of the genera of family Polykrikaceae that includes athecate pseudocolony-forming dinoflagellates. Polykrikos are characterized by a sophisticated ballistic apparatus, named the nematocyst-taeniocyst complex, which allows species to prey on a variety of organisms. Polykrikos have been found to regulate algal blooms as they feed on toxic dinoflagellates. However, there is also some data available on Polykrikos being toxic to fish.

JoAnn Marie Burkholder is an American professor of aquatic ecology at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh. She was responsible for identifying the cause, a dinoflagellate Pfiesteria piscicida and its toxins, of mass deaths of fish that posed a public health hazard. Her studies also helped in improving legislation to control pollution and eutrophication.

References

  1. ↑ Doyle, Jeff; Soltis, Douglas E.; Soltis, Pamela S. (1998). Molecular systematics of plants II: DNA sequencing. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN   0-412-11121-7.
  2. ↑ Bhattacharya, Debashish; Olson, Laura Katz (2006). Genomics and evolution of microbial eukaryotes. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-856974-2.
  3. ↑ Whiteley AS, Burkill PH, Sleigh MA (1993). "Rapid method for cell cycle analysis in a predatory marine dinoflagellate". Cytometry. 14 (8): 909–15. doi: 10.1002/cyto.990140809 . PMID   7507024.
  4. ↑ Jeong HJ, Kim SK, Kim JS, Kim ST, Yoo YD, Yoon JY (2001). "Growth and grazing rates of the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Polykrikos kofoidii on red-tide and toxic dinoflagellates". J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 48 (3): 298–308. doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.2001.tb00318.x. PMID   11411838. S2CID   27126586.
  5. ↑ Smalley GW, Coats DW (2002). "Ecology of the red-tide dinoflagellate Ceratium furca: distribution, mixotrophy, and grazing impact on ciliate populations of Chesapeake Bay". J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 49 (1): 63–73. doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.2002.tb00343.x. PMID   11908900. S2CID   20834759.
  6. ↑ Jeong HJ, Du Yoo Y, Kim JS, et al. (2004). "Mixotrophy in the phototrophic harmful alga Cochlodinium polykrikoides (Dinophycean): prey species, the effects of prey concentration, and grazing impact". J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 51 (5): 563–9. doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.2004.tb00292.x. PMID   15537091. S2CID   4641093.
  7. ↑ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2006). "Ciguatera fish poisoning--Texas, 1998, and South Carolina, 2004". MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 55 (34): 935–7. PMID   16943762.
  8. ↑ Vogelbein WK, Lovko VJ, Shields JD, et al. (2002). "Pfiesteria shumwayae kills fish by micropredation not exotoxin secretion". Nature. 418 (6901): 967–70. Bibcode:2002Natur.418..967V. doi:10.1038/nature01008. PMID   12198545. S2CID   4388577.
  9. ↑ Jeong HJ, Ha JH, Yoo YD, et al. (2007). "Feeding by the Pfiesteria-like heterotrophic dinoflagellate Luciella masanensis". J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 54 (3): 231–41. doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.2007.00259.x. PMID   17552978. S2CID   614623.
  10. ↑ Wiley Interscience
  11. ↑ Martel CM, Flynn KJ (2008). "Morphological controls on cannibalism in a planktonic marine phagotroph". Protist. 159 (1): 41–51. doi:10.1016/j.protis.2007.05.003. PMID   17768088.
  12. 1 2 "AAAS Atlas of Population and Environment" . Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  13. 1 2 3 Michael Greger (2006). Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching. Lantern Books. ISBN   1-59056-098-1.
  14. ↑ Eichhorn, Susan E.; Raven, Peter H.; Evert, Ray Franklin (2005). Biology of plants . New York: W.H. Freeman and Company. pp.  205. ISBN   0-7167-1007-2.
  15. ↑ "Cyber Diver News Network: Cell from Hell - Killer Algae Eating Fish". Archived from the original on 2008-11-19. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  16. 1 2 "Killer Algae | Unusual Organisms | DISCOVER Magazine" . Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  17. ↑ "The Fuss Over Pfiesteria". Archived from the original on 2008-02-02. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  18. ↑ Morris JG (1999). "Pfiesteria, "the cell from hell," and other toxic algal nightmares". Clin. Infect. Dis. 28 (6): 1191–6, quiz 1197–8. doi: 10.1086/514799 . PMID   10451151.
  19. ↑ Terlizzi DE (2006). "Pfiesteria Hysteria, Agriculture, and Water Quality in the Chesapeake Bay: The Extension Bridge over Troubled Waters". Journal of Extension. 44 (5): 5FEA3.
  20. ↑ Greenberg DR, Tracy JK, Grattan LM (1998). "A critical review of the Pfiesteria hysteria hypothesis". Md Med J. 47 (3): 133–6. PMID   9601200.
  21. ↑ "FFWD Weekly - November 20, 2003". Archived from the original on 2008-02-02. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  22. ↑ "National Geographic Channel: EXTRATERRESTRIAL". Archived from the original on 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
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