Five Alexandrium species lacking mixotrophic ability

Abstract

Mixotrophy in marine organisms is an important aspect of ecology and evolution. The discovery of mixotrophic abilities in phototrophic dinoflagellates alters our understanding of the dynamics of red tides. In the phototrophic dinoflagellate genus Alexandrium, some species are mixotrophic, but others are exclusively autotrophic. There are differences in the ecological roles of autotrophic and mixotrophic Alexandrium in marine food webs. However, of the 34 known Alexandrium species, the mixotrophic ability of >20 species has yet to be explored. In this study, the mixotrophic capabilities of Alexandrium insuetunz CCMP2082, Alexandrium mediterraneum CCMP3433, Alexandrium pacificum CCMP3434, Alexandrium tamutum ATSH1609, and Alexandrium margalefil CAWD10 were investigated by providing each species with 22 diverse prey items including bacterium-sized microbeads (1 pm), the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp., algal prey species, and the ciliate Mesodinium rubrum. None of the 5 Alexandrium species fed on any of the prey items. These results increase the number of Alexandrium species lacking mixotrophic abilities to 9, compared to the 7 known mixotrophic Alexandrium species. Furthermore, the Alexandrium phylogenetic tree based on the large subunit ribosomal DNA contained 3 large dades, each of which had species with and without mixotrophic abilities. Thus, the acquisition or loss of mixotrophic abilities in Alexandrium might readily occur.