AB Aquatic Biology Contact the journal Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections AB 25:139-150 (2016) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00664 Single-cell PCR of the luciferase conserved catalytic domain reveals a unique cluster in the toxic bioluminescent dinoflagellate Pyrodinium bahamense Kathleen D. Cusick1,6,*, Steven W. Wilhelm1,2, Paul E. Hargraves4,5, Gary S. Sayler1,2,3,4,5 1Center for Environmental Biotechnology, The University of Tennessee, 676 Dabney Hall, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA 2Department of Microbiology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA 3Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA 4Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute of Florida Atlantic University, Ft Pierce, FL 34946, USA 5UT-ORNL Joint Institute of Biological Sciences, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA 6Present address: US Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC 20375, USA *Corresponding author: kdcusick@gmail.com ABSTRACT: Pyrodinium bahamense is a toxic, bioluminescent dinoflagellate with a record of intense bloom formation in both the Atlantic-Caribbean and Indo-Pacific regions. To date, limited genetic information exists for P. bahamense in comparison to other closely related harmful algal bloom taxa such as Alexandrium, or other bioluminescent taxa such as Pyrocystis. This study utilized single-cell PCR to explore the molecular diversity of P. bahamense within the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Florida, USA, and a bioluminescent bay in Puerto Rico. Pyrodinium-specific primers targeting a ca.1.2-kb region of the 18S rRNA gene and degenerate primers targeting the conserved catalytic domain of the luciferase gene (lcf) were applied to single cells isolated from both geographic regions as well as single cells of clonal isolates from the IRL. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that while P. bahamense is more closely related to Alexandrium spp. at the 18S rRNA gene level, its lcf sequences are more closely related to Pyrocystis spp. than Alexandrium spp. Pyrodinium bahamense lcf sequences from the Western Atlantic formed 2 distinct clusters. These clusters were defined by a set of core amino acid substitutions, and the extent of variation was greater than that recorded between the established variants of Pyrocystis lcf. lcf sequences from an Indo-Pacific strain formed a third distinct cluster. Based on these results, the potential of lcf for use in tracking sub-populations of P. bahamense is discussed. KEY WORDS: Indian River Lagoon · Dinoflagellate · Pyrodinium bahamense · Saxitoxin · Single‑cell PCR · Luciferase · Bioluminescence Full text in pdf format Supplementary material Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Cusick KD, Wilhelm SW, Hargraves PE, Sayler GS (2016) Single-cell PCR of the luciferase conserved catalytic domain reveals a unique cluster in the toxic bioluminescent dinoflagellate Pyrodinium bahamense. Aquat Biol 25:139-150. https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00664 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AB Vol. 25. Online publication date: September 21, 2016 Print ISSN: 1864-7782; Online ISSN: 1864-7790 Copyright © 2016 Inter-Research.