Abstract
In marine ecosystems, dinoflagellates can become highly abundant and even dominant at times, despite their comparatively slow growth rates. One factor that may play a role in their ecological success is the production of complex secondary metabolite compounds that can have anti-predator, allelopathic, or other toxic effects on marine organisms, and also cause seafood poisoning in humans. Our knowledge about the genes involved in toxin biosynthesis in dinoflagellates is currently limited due to the complex genomic features of these organisms. Most recently, the sequencing of dinoflagellate transcriptomes has provided us with valuable insights into the biosynthesis of polyketide and alkaloid-based toxin molecules in dinoflagellate species. This review synthesizes the recent progress that has been made in understanding the evolution, biosynthetic pathways, and gene regulation in dinoflagellates with the aid of transcriptomic and other molecular genetic tools, and provides a pathway for future studies of dinoflagellates in this exciting omics era.
Highlights
Marine microbial eukaryotes are a diverse group of organisms comprising lineages that differ widely in their evolutionary histories, ecological niches, growth requirements, and nutritional strategies [1,2,3,4,5]
Cyclic imine (CI) toxins are a class of fast-acting neurotoxins that include spirolides, gymnodimines, pinnatoxins, as well as other minor compounds produced by a number dinoflagellate species: Alexandrium ostenfeldii, Karenia selliformis, K. mikimotoi, Prorocentrum lima, P. maculosum, and Vulcanodinium rugorum
The presence of grazers, while increasing the toxin content and diversity of Paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) structural variants, did not increase the number of sxtA transcripts in Alexandrium catenella [209]. These findings suggest that the PST biosynthesis genes in dinoflagellates are under a complex regulatory system that may involve genomic, transcriptional as well as post-transcriptional and translational elements
Summary
Marine microbial eukaryotes are a diverse group of organisms comprising lineages that differ widely in their evolutionary histories, ecological niches, growth requirements, and nutritional strategies [1,2,3,4,5]. Recent studies on protist species richness in the world’s oceans using genetic tools, such as metabarcoding, have shown that approximately half of 18S rDNA richness is made up of dinoflagellate sequences [9,10] This widespread diversity is due to their ability to adapt to a wide variety of ecological niches, largely depending on their complex survival strategies (such as photoautotrophy, symbiosis, mixotrophy, and heterotrophy) [11,12]. They possess significant variability in morphology, pigment composition, and photosynthetic activity along with a broad spectrum of biological activities that serves various ecological niches.
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