Life History of a Marine Dinoflagellate Pyrophacus steinii (Schiller) Wall et Dale
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P. Pholpunthin
Abstract
The life history of a marine dinoflagellate Pyrophacus steinii (Schiller)Wall et Dale was investigated using clonal cultures isolated from Tokyo Bay. The asexual reproduction is binary fission of the eleutheroschisis type. All processes of asexual and sexual cell division occur inside the theca of the mother cells. Sexual reproduction is anisogamous and heterothallic.Male gametes differ from female gametes and vegetative cells in size, shape and plate tabulation. The female gametes can not be differentiated from the vegetative cells. Cell fusion between the male and female gametes occurs within a few hours to several days after inoculation of the male gametes into a culture of a non-male clone. Zygotes are similar to the vegetative cells in shape except possessing two longitudinal flagella. One to two days after plasmogamy, the zygotes become non-motile, and their protoplasts contract. Within 1 to 3 days, following the condensation of protoplast, they transform to hypnozygotes (resting cysts). The specific features of the life cycle can be summerized as: i) the asexual reproduction is eleutheroschisis, ii) sexual fusion occurs after inoculation of the small round thecate cells, which are equivalent to male gametes, into a culture of a non-male clone, iii) male gametes are distinctive from vegetative cells in their smaller size, round shape, fewer plate number and pale chloroplasts, iv) female gametes can not be differentiated from the vegetative cells, v) the sexual life cycle is anisogamous and heterothallic.
Copyright (c)1999 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
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Articles in the same Issue
- Comparison of the Phytoplankton Assemblages of the South-Eastern Barents Sea and South-Western Kara Sea: Phytogeographical Status of the Regions
- Intertidal Fungi in Mangalore Harbour, Southern India
- Epiphyte Accrual on Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile Leaves: Implications for Light Absorption
- The Benthic Marine Algae of Uruguay
- On the Evolution of Interactions between Marine Mesoherbivores and Algae
- Bioaccumulation of Hg, Cd, Pb and Zn in Four Marine Phanerogams and the Alga Caulerpa prolifera (Försskal) Lamouroux from the East Coast of Spain
- Differential Antibacterial Activity of Extracts from Selected Southern African Macroalgal Thalli
- Seasonal Variations in the Yield, Gelling Properties, and Chemical Composition of Agars from Gracilaria eucheumoides and Gelidiella acerosa (Rhodophyta) from the Philippines
- Coexistence of Agaroid and Carrageenan Structures in a Polysaccharide from the Red Seaweed Rhodomela larix (Turner) C. Ag.
- Life History of a Marine Dinoflagellate Pyrophacus steinii (Schiller) Wall et Dale
- Halogenated Secondary Metabolites of Laurencia similis (Rhodomelaceae, Rhodophyta)
