The colony-forming Phaeocystis species are causative agents of dense bloom occurrences incoastal waters worldwide. It is difficult to separate them because of the different morphologies associated with their colonial ...The colony-forming Phaeocystis species are causative agents of dense bloom occurrences incoastal waters worldwide. It is difficult to separate them because of the different morphologies associated with their colonial stages. In this study we applied molecular approaches to analyze the genetic variation of Phaeocystis globosa and Phaeocystis pouchetii from several geographic regions, and to assist in tracing the dispersal of bloom-forming Phaeocystis species in coastal waters of China. The sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) of rDNA and the 5. 8S ribosomal RNA gene of Phaeocystis strains were determined. Sequence comparison shows that P.globosa was the most divergent to P. pouchetii, exhibiting sequence divergence higher than 0.08. However, lower genetic divergences existed between strains of P. globosa. The sequence comparison of the Phaeocystis rDNA ITS clearly shows that the species isolated from the southeast coast of China is identified as P. globosa rather than P. cf. pouchetii or other species. Furthermore, the significance of rDNA variation in distinct global populations of P. globosa suggested it might have had sufficient time to accumulate detectable mutations at the rDNA locus, supporting the hypothesis of ancient dispersal of P .globosa to many areas, meaning that P. globosa blooms in the coastal waters of China are endemic rather than a newly introduced species or a foreign source. Finally, based on the high divergent region of rDNA ITS, a pair of species-specific primers for P. globosa were designed, they could be useful to detect the presence of this species in mixed plankton assemblages or flagellate stages that are recognized with diffculties by means of conventional microscopy.展开更多
基金This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 39970063the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China under contract No. 001213the Red-tide Key Project of the Natural Science Foundatio
文摘The colony-forming Phaeocystis species are causative agents of dense bloom occurrences incoastal waters worldwide. It is difficult to separate them because of the different morphologies associated with their colonial stages. In this study we applied molecular approaches to analyze the genetic variation of Phaeocystis globosa and Phaeocystis pouchetii from several geographic regions, and to assist in tracing the dispersal of bloom-forming Phaeocystis species in coastal waters of China. The sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) of rDNA and the 5. 8S ribosomal RNA gene of Phaeocystis strains were determined. Sequence comparison shows that P.globosa was the most divergent to P. pouchetii, exhibiting sequence divergence higher than 0.08. However, lower genetic divergences existed between strains of P. globosa. The sequence comparison of the Phaeocystis rDNA ITS clearly shows that the species isolated from the southeast coast of China is identified as P. globosa rather than P. cf. pouchetii or other species. Furthermore, the significance of rDNA variation in distinct global populations of P. globosa suggested it might have had sufficient time to accumulate detectable mutations at the rDNA locus, supporting the hypothesis of ancient dispersal of P .globosa to many areas, meaning that P. globosa blooms in the coastal waters of China are endemic rather than a newly introduced species or a foreign source. Finally, based on the high divergent region of rDNA ITS, a pair of species-specific primers for P. globosa were designed, they could be useful to detect the presence of this species in mixed plankton assemblages or flagellate stages that are recognized with diffculties by means of conventional microscopy.
