[OANNES Foro] Control of Toxic Marine Dinoflagellate Blooms by Serial Parasitic Killers

[Mario Cabrejos]

      Science 21 November 2008:
      Vol. 322. no. 5905, pp. 1254 - 1257
      DOI: 10.1126/science.1164387
       

Control of Toxic Marine Dinoflagellate Blooms by Serial Parasitic Killers
Aurelie Chambouvet, Pascal Morin, Dominique Marie, Laure Guillou lguillou en sb-roscoff.fr  
Station Biologique, CNRS, UMR 7144, Place Georges Teissier, 29682 Roscoff Cedex, France; and Laboratoire Adaptation et Diversité en Milieu Marin, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 6, Paris, France. 
The marine dinoflagellates commonly responsible for toxic red tides are parasitized by other dinoflagellate species. Using culture-independent environmental ribosomal RNA sequences and fluorescence markers, we identified host-specific infections among several species. Each parasitoid produces 60 to 400 offspring, leading to extraordinarily rapid control of the host's population. During 3 consecutive years of observation in a natural estuary, all dinoflagellates observed were chronically infected, and a given host species was infected by a single genetically distinct parasite year after year. Our observations in natural ecosystems suggest that although bloom-forming dinoflagellates may escape control by grazing organisms, they eventually succumb to parasite attack. 

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