Mini Review: Probes for Detecting Prymnesium parvum and Preliminary Results From Gene Expression Studies1

Abstract

Medlin, Linda K., Sonja Diercks, and Sara Beszteri, 2010. Mini Review: Probes for Detecting Prymnesium parvum and Preliminary Results From Gene Expression Studies. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(1):144‐152. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2009.00398.xAbstract: Prymnesium parvum is common in brackish and marine coastal waters within temperate zones, world‐wide. P. parvum forms recurrent blooms causing fish kills in many parts of the world. Harmful blooms are formed in nutrient rich, low salinity lakes, ponds, river systems, or estuaries. Probes made to this species and to the genus Prymnesium have been tested in dot blot and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and used with a solid‐phase cytometer using a tyramide signal amplification (TSA) enhanced FISH hybridization to provide a means to identify the cells before blooms develop with automated counting. Field counts from light microscopy have been compared with solid‐phase cytometer counts. Additional detection systems, such as biosensors and microarrays, have also been developed to identify rapidly this species without resorting to electron microscopy. Advantages and disadvantages of each detection system are discussed. A study of the genes expressed by P. parvum under environmental conditions that can induce blooms or stress was undertaken to try to understand the ecology behind toxic blooms.