Temperature-Driven Intraspecific Diversity in Paralytic Shellfish Toxin Profiles of the Dinoflagellate Alexandrium pacificum and Intragenic Variation in the Saxitoxin Biosynthetic Gene, sxtA4.

ABSTRACT: Alexandrium pacificum, a globally distributed dinoflagellate, is well-known for causing harmful algal blooms and producing Paralytic Shellfish Toxins (PSTs), a threat to marine life and human health. The frequency and intensity of Alexandrium blooms have increased in recent decades, driven, in some cases, by increasing temperatures. Here, we investigated the temperature-dependent (15 °C, 20 °C, 25 °C, and 30 °C) growth rates and paralytic shellfish toxin profiles of eight A. pacificum strains while concurrently examining differences in sequences of the saxitoxin biosynthetic gene, sxtA4. While maximum cell densities were lowest at 30 °C, toxin production per cell was highest at higher temperatures that inhibited growth, with greater diversity of toxin analogs peaking at 30 °C, as confirmed

SUBMITTER: Sung J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12334542 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature