• ALGAE
• /
• 제17권1호
• /
• pp.11-19
• /
• 2002

Twenty-nine culture strains belonging to the genus Alexandrium Halim (Dinophyceae) were established from water column or sediments in Korea. Seventeen isolates were identified as A. tamarense (Lebour) Balech, eight isolates as A. sp. cf. catenella and one as A. catenella (Whedon et Kofoid) Balech according to the presence or absence of a ventral pore, the shape of the posterior sulcal plate and the sulcal width. Three isolates were unable to be identified due to considerable distortion of thecal plates and lack of enough materials, but typical of A. tamarense and/or A. catenella. The overall cell shape of A. tamarense was usually longer than wide. The posterior sulcal plate was definitely longer than wide dorsoventrally, and sulcus extended posteriorly without apparent widening. They were distributed in three major coasts of Korea. In contrast, the cell shape of A. sp.cf. catenella was generally anterior-posteriorly flattened. The transversal axis of the posterior sulcal plate was always longer than the longitudinal, or both axes were nearly equal in length. Its sulcus was broader than that of A. tamarense and widened in the direction of antapex about 1.5 times. This morphotype existed in nearshore and offshore waters of the southern Korea sea. One of A. catenella isolates from Jinhae Bay showed no conspicuous differences with A. sp. cf. catenella except for the consistent absence of a ventral pore.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
• /
• 제39권3호
• /
• pp.163-171
• /
• 2004

Sequences of the large subunit ribosomal (LSD) rDNA D1-D2 region of Alexandrium catenella(=A. sp. cf. catenella) and A. tamarense isolates, which were collected along the Korea coasts, were analyzed to understand their phylogenetic relationships and geographical distributions. All A. catenella and A. tamarense isolates belonged to the A. tamarense/catenella/fundyense complex and were grouped with the North American and temperate Asian ribotypes, respectively, regardless of the presence or absence of a ventral pore in the first apical plate. A consistent and peculiar characteristic that differentiated the Alexandrium isolates was amplification of a second PCR product with a lower molecular weight in addition to the predicted one; ten A. catenella isolates belonging to the temperate Asian ribotype yielded this additional PCR product. Sequence alignment revealed that the shorter PCR product resulted from an unusual large deletion of 87 bp in the LSD rDNA D1 domain. The North American and temperate Asian ribotypes were prevalent along the Korean coasts without geographical separation. Given the high genetic homogeneity among widely distributed Alexandrium populations, each ribotype appeared to be pandemic rather than to constitute a distinct regional population.