Pubblicazione scientifica

The Cost of Toxicity in Microalgae: Direct Evidence From the Dinoflagellate Alexandrium

FILONE TECNOLOGICO	TEMA
trasformazione e commercializzazione

RIASSUNTO

Empirical evidence of the cost of producing toxic compounds in harmful microalgae is completely lacking. Yet costs are often assumed to be high, implying substantial ecological benefits with adaptive significance exist. To study potential fitness costs of toxin production, 16 strains including three species of the former Alexandrium tamarense species complex were grown under both carbon limitation and unlimited conditions. Growth rates, levels of intracellular paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs), and effects of lytic compounds were measured to provide trade-off curves of toxicity for both PST and lytic toxicity under high light (300 μmol photons m−2 s−1) and under low light (i.e., carbon limited; 20 μmol photons m−2 s−1). Fitness costs in terms of reduced growth rates with increasing PST content were only evident under unlimited conditions, but not under carbon limitation, in which case PST production was positively correlated with growth. The cost of production of lytic compounds was detected both under carbon limitation and unlimited conditions, but only in strains producing PST. The results may direct future research in understanding the evolutionary role and ecological function of algal toxins. The intrinsic growth rate costs should be accounted for in relation to quantifying benefits such as grazer avoidance or toxin-mediated prey capture in natural food web settings.

DATA

Data di pubblicazione: 22/05/2019

AUTORI

BLOSSOM HANNAH E
MARKUSSEN BO
DAUGBJERG NIELS
KROCK BERND
NORLIN ANDREAS
HANSEN PER JUEL

ENTE DI AFFERENZA

MARINE BIOLOGICAL SECTION DEPT BIOLOGY UNIV COPENHAGEN ELSINORE DENMARK
DEPT MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES UNIV COPENHAGEN COPENHAGEN DENMARK
MARINE BIOLOGICAL SECTION DEPT BIOLOGY UNIV COPENHAGEN COPENHAGEN DENMARK
ALFRED WEGENER INST FUR POLAR & MEERESFORSCHUNG BREMERHAVEN GERMANY

RIVISTA

Frontiers in Microbiology, 10, 1065

IMPACT FACTOR

4,190

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