A new small thecate dinoflagellate Azadinium anteroporum sp. nov. (Amphidomataceae, Dinophyceae) isolated from the Asian Pacific

Abstract

ABSTRACT The marine thecate dinoflagellate Azadinium includes species known to produce the diarrhetic shellfish toxins known as azaspiracids (AZAs). In this study, the morphology of a thecate dinoflagellate isolated from Mutsu Bay, Japan, was examined by LM and SEM, and its phylogenetic position was inferred from ITS and LSU rDNA sequences. The production of AZAs was examined by liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS). Cells were elliptical, 15.9–22.4 µm long and 11.1–17.1 µm wide. A chloroplast was positioned peripherally, with a pyrenoid near the cingulum, and the nucleus was placed in the hyposome. The hyposome was smaller than the episome, with an antapical spine on plate 2''''. Thecal tabulation was Po, cp, X, 4', 3a, 6'', 6C, 5S, 6''', 2''''. The apical pore complex consisted of a symmetrical apical pore plate (Po), a cover plate (cp) and a small canal plate (X), and was surrounded by a prominent collar formed by the apical plates. A ventral pore was located on the mid-anterior edge of plate 1' and contacted with the X-plate and/or the ventral left of plate Po. Plate 1'' was in contact with plate 1a. AZA was not detected in the cultures. Molecular phylogeny showed that the species was related to Azadinium species that possess the ventral pore on the left side of plate 1', i.e. A. cuneatum, A. dalianense, A. obesum, A. poporum, A. spinosum and A. trinitatum, but that it was not included in these species. The new species Azadinium anteroporum sp. nov. differs in the ventral pore position (mid-anterior edge of plate 1') from these related species (which have the ventral pore on the left side of plate 1'), and from A. polongum (with ventral pore on the posterior left side of 1') and all other Azadinium species (with ventral pore on the right side of 1').