Abstract
The harmful dinoflagellate species Margalefidinium polykrikoides is comprised of several ribotypes and is responsible for recurrent blooms worldwide. Parasitic dinoflagellates have been suggested to play a role in the decline of M. polykrikoides blooms; however, information on the host–parasite interaction remains limited. We report a bloom caused by M. polykrikoides ribotype I in the Taiwan Strait in June 2018, as confirmed by microscopic observation and molecular characterization. Amoebophrya ceratii infecting M. polykrikoides was identified by single-cell polymerase chain reaction and subsequent direct sequencing of the LSU rRNA gene from the bloom samples, which shared a 94.72% similarity with Amoebophrya ceratii ex Levanderina fissa. DNA metabarcoding targeting SSU rRNA genes of the V4 region revealed a high diversity of Amoebophrya infecting various hosts in the bloom samples. Amoebophrya ceratii accounted for approximately 45% of Syndiniales Group II from the bloom samples, but less than 2.5% in the non-bloom samples. In addition to two known Amoebophrya spp. ex M. polykrikoides from South Korea, our results provide evidence of infection of M. polykrikoides by a third Amoebophrya species; however, its exact role in the bloom decline of M. polykrikoides remains to be determined.
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