Characteristics of chain-forming cells in Gyrodinium impudicum using fluorescent ConA

Cells of the dinoflagellate Gyrodinium impudicum form characteristic chains, which are associated with sugar accumulated on the cell surface. To resolve the relationship between chain-formation and cell surface sugar accumulation, confocal microscopy was used to observe sugar accumulation points in the vegetative cells and long chain-forming cells of G. impudicum cells treated with fluorescent-tagged ConA. In the stationary and exponential phases, both vegetative cells and chain-forming cells were similar to each other in fluorescent intensity. There was no evidence that chain-forming cells had a specific location for sugar accumulation on the cell surface. Most of the cells formed 2-cell chains one day after inoculation, but longer chains consisting of 4-8 cells increased markedly in 4day and 8 day cultures. Gyrodinium impudicum chains usually consist of more than four cells, and chains of 8 or even 16 cells can be observed in mature cultures. Temperature played an importantrole in chain-formation of the cells, threshold temperature for the development of long chain-formation was 19 $^{\circ}$C.