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First record of the diatom pathogen Diatomophthora perforans cf. subsp. pleurosigmae (Oomycota) from the Mediterranean microphytobenthos

  • Bettina Scholz ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Kleopatra Grammatiki ORCID logo , Eleni Avramidi ORCID logo , Myrsini M. Lymperaki ORCID logo , Vasilis Resaikos ORCID logo , Magdalene Papatheodoulou ORCID logo and Frithjof C. Küpper ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: September 9, 2025
Botanica Marina
From the journal Botanica Marina Volume 68 Issue 5

Abstract

Knowledge about pathogens of diatoms and macroalgae in the Mediterranean is scarce. This paper reports the first record of the oomycete Diatomophthora perforans subsp. pleurosigmae infecting the Mediterranean microphytobenthic diatom Pleurosigma cf. intermedium, which was detected in the context of marine environmental surveys of the brine outfalls of two seawater desalination plants.

Keywords: Bacillariophyta; Ectrogella ; microphytobenthos; Oomycota; Pleurosigma intermedium
Corresponding authors: Bettina Scholz, BioPol ehf, Einbúastig 2, 545 Skagaströnd, Iceland; and Faculty of Natural Resource Sciences, University of Akureyri, Borgir v. Nordurslod, IS 600 Akureyri, Iceland, E-mail: ; and Frithjof C. Küpper, School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Cruickshank Building, St. Machar Drive, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, Scotland, UK; Oceanography Center, University of Cyprus, 1 Panepistimiou Av., 2109 Aglantzia, Nicosia, Cyprus; Marine Biodiscovery Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, Scotland, UK; and Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182-1030, USA, E-mail:

Funding source: Directorate-General XII, Science, Research, and Development

Award Identifier / Grant number: 869474

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff of the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research of the Cyprus Government for providing their research vessels and laboratory facilities in Meneou in support of this work. We are grateful to the European Commission for supporting the activities carried out in the framework of the Horizon 2020 project WATERMINING (project under grant agreement No. 869474). B.S. was supported by the Icelandic Research Fund in the frame of the project “Per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) meet Arctic and sub-Arctic marine diatoms and their associated symbionts” (RANNIS ID: 239548-051).

  1. Research ethics: This work is fully compliant with the ethical standards of the University of Aberdeen, the University of Cyprus, San Diego State University and the University of Algarve.

  2. Informed consent: Not applicable.

  3. Author contributions: BS, EA and FCK designed this study. FCK raised the funding and organized the expeditions to Cyprus. FCK, EA, KG, MML, VR and MP performed field work. BS performed lab work, including taxonomic identification of diatoms and associated organisms. BS wrote a report for the project WATER-MINING. FCK and BS wrote the first draft of this paper. All authors participated in the final editing of the paper, have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: Not applicable.

  5. Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.

  6. Research funding: This work was supported by the European Community (project WATER-MINING under grant agreement no. 869474). This work also received support from the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland pooling initiative. MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. We would equally like to thank the TOTAL Foundation (Project “Diversity of brown algae in the Eastern Mediterranean”).

  7. Data availability: Not applicable.

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Received: 2025-04-12
Accepted: 2025-07-22
Published Online: 2025-09-09
Published in Print: 2025-10-27

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/bot-2025-0028
Keywords for this article
Bacillariophyta; Ectrogella; microphytobenthos; Oomycota; Pleurosigma intermedium

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. In this issue
  3. Physiology and Ecology
  4. Labelling kelps with 13C and 15N for isotope tracing or enrichment experiments
  5. Effects of thermal history on the heat shock response of bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana)
  6. Naturally occurring protoplasts in two Ulva spp. reveal a previously underestimated proliferation process
  7. Taxonomy/Phylogeny and Biogeography
  8. Unveiling Cladophora (Cladophorales, Chlorophyta) diversity in Turkey through DNA barcoding
  9. A new crustose brown alga, Endoplura geojensis sp. nov. (Ralfsiales, Phaeophyceae) from Korea based on molecular and morphological analyses
  10. Diversity of turf-forming Gelidium species growing on subtidal crustose coralline algae in the East Sea of Korea with a description of G. cristatum sp. nov.
  11. First record of the diatom pathogen Diatomophthora perforans cf. subsp. pleurosigmae (Oomycota) from the Mediterranean microphytobenthos
  12. Staminate flowers of the non-native seagrass, Halophila stipulacea, observed for the first time in Biscayne Bay, Florida, USA
  13. Chemistry and Applications
  14. Chemical and biological potential of fungi from deep-sea hydrothermal vents and an oxygen minimum zone
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