Effect of biotic and abiotic factors on in vitro proliferation, encystment, and excystment of Pfiesteria piscicida.

ABSTRACT: Pfiesteria spp. are mixotrophic armored dinoflagellates populating the Atlantic coastal waters of the United States. They have been a focus of intense research due to their reported association with several fish mortality events. We have now used a clonal culture of Pfiesteria piscicida and several new environmental isolates to describe growth characteristics, feeding, and factors contributing to the encystment and germination of the organism in both laboratory and environmental samples. We also discuss applied methods of detection of the different morphological forms of Pfiesteria in environmental samples. In summary, Pfiesteria, when grown with its algal prey, Rhodomonas sp., presents a typical growth curve with lag, exponential, and stationary phases, followed by encystment. The doublin

SUBMITTER: Saito K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2075043 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature