• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.651-657
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• 2003

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used to study genetic relationships among C. polykrikoides, G. impudicum and G. catenatum, which possess similar morphological features. Four of 12 primers were selected and 59 amplification products ranged from 0.2 kb to 3.0 kb. The number of polymorphic products in C. polykrikoides, G. impudicum and G. catenatum was 16 (27.1%), 8 (13.5%), and 16 (27.1%), respectively, while 17 were monomorphic. Number of species-specific bounds was 26 (44.0%), 34 (57.6%), 26 (44.0%) in C. polykrikoides, G. impudicum and G. catenatum, respectively. The genetic similarity between C. polykrikoides and G. impudicum/G. catenatum was 0.83, whereas G. impudicum and G. catenatum was 0.78. Our results suggest that C. polykrikoides, G. impudicum and G. catenatum are extremely different on the basis of RAPD analysis, despite similarity based on their morphology. The RAPD technique appears to be efficient in detecting genetic variation in these dinoflagellates.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.66-77
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• 1999

The sequences coding for the 5.8S rDNA and the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS 2) from the isolates of nine isolates of Gyrodinium impudicum and two isolates of Gymnodinium sanguineum species were amplified, sequenced and compared with the previously known Alexandrium species and Gymnodinium catenatum. The genetic distance analyses based on the sequence alignment indicated that Gymnodinium catenatum and Gyrodinium impudicum species were some related, Alexandrium species was distant. G. catenatum and G. sanguineum were quite separate, but these two species belonged to the same genus. G. impudicum and G. catenatum forming the closet cluster showed some variation in the alignment of ITS regions. The length of ITS1 varied more than that of ITS2 and the length of ITS1 and ITS2 was different for each G. impudicum, Gymnodinium and Alexandrium species. Also, the length of ITS1 was shorter than that of ITS2. However, on the sequences of G. sanguineum, the length of ITS1 was longer about 23 nucleotides than that of ITS2. The phylogenetic analysis and rDNA similarity of G. impudicum and G. catenatum $(59\%)$ is higher than the that of G. catenatum and G. sanguineum $(55\%)$. It was thought that the phylogenetic analysis and the genetic distance revealed that G. impudicum and G. catenatum were clearly different species and G. impudicum may belong to the genus of Gymnodinium.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.305-314
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• 2004

An exopolysaccharide-producing microalgal dinoflagellate was isolated from a red-tide bloom and des­ignated strain KG03. A bacteria-free culture of strain KG03 was achieved using a modified wash with phototaxis and antibiotic treatment. Combined treatment with neomycin and cephalosporin was the most effective for eliminating the bacteria associated with the microalgae. Strain KG03 was identified as Gyrodinium impudicum by analyzing the ITS regions of the 5.8S rDNA, 18S rDNA, morphological phenotype and fatty acid composition. The exopolysaccharide production and cell growth in a 300-ml photobioreactor were increased 2.7- and 2.4-fold, respectively, compared with that in a flask culture at the first isolation step.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.214-219
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• 1999

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.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.615-620
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• 2003

The sulfated exopolysaccharide p-KG03, which is produced by the marine microalga Gyrodinium impudicum strain KG03, exhibited impressive antiviral activity in vitro ($EC_{50}$ = 26.9 g/ml) against the encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV). Depending on the p-KG03 concentration, the development of cytopathic effects in EMCV-infected HeLa cells was either inhibited completely or slowed. Moreover, p-KG03 did not show any cytotoxic effects on HeLa cells, even at concentrations up to 1,000 g/ml. The polysaccharide was purified by repeated precipitation in ethanol, followed by gel filtration. The p-KG03 polysaccharide had a molecular weight of $1.87\;{\times}\;10^6$, and was characterized as a homopolysaccharide of galactose with uronic acid (2.96%, w/w) and sulfate groups (10.32% w/w). The biological activities of p-KG03 suggest that sulfated metabolites from marine organisms are a rich source of antiviral agents. This is the first reported marine source of antiviral sulfated polysaccharides against EMCV. The p-KG03 polysaccharide may be useful for the development of marine bioactive exopolysaccharides for use in biotechnological and pharmaceutical products.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.363-370
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• 1999

When the first red tide alert by Cochlodinium polykrikoides was alarmed around the Oenarodo coast on Aug. 27, 1997, there co-occurred two chain-forming naked dinoflagellates which were different sized but looked fairly similar. The analyses of 24S rRNA sequences of these species showed that their gene sequences had only 74.9% identity. This low value implies that they are quite different species. After isolation and cultivation of each species, the morphological characteristics were observed. This revealed that the larger species ranging from 20 to 35 ${\mu}m$ was the well known, Cochlodinium polykrikoides and the smaller one ranging from 12 to 25 ${\mu}m$ was Gyrodinium impudicum which had not been reported in Korea. As their 24S rRNA sequences had not been analysed yet, we deposited the sequences in Genbank. At that time of the investigation. the red tide was caused by G. impudicum of which maximum cell counts reached up to 30,000 cells $ml^{-1}$. In this study we describe the morphological characteristics and the behavioral patterns of each species which can be easily observed with light microscope or stereomicroscope. In addition, their morphology transformed by the fixation with Lugol's solution are also characterized. which can help to discriminate each one in the fixed sample.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Fisheries Technology Conference
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• 1998.06a
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• pp.353-353
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• 1998

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.536-544
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• 2001

Three harmful algal bloom species with similar morphology, Cochlodinium polykrikoides, Gyodinium impudicum and Gymodinium catenatum have damaged to aquatic animals or human health by either making massive blooms or intoxication of shellfishes in a food chain. Eco-physiological and hydrodynamic studies on the harmful algae offer useful informations in the understanding their bloom mechanism by giving promising data for the prediction and modelling of harmful algal blooms event. Thus, we studied the abundance of these species in the coastal area of South Sea of Korea and their effects of temperature, salinity, irradiance and nutrient on the growth for the isolates. The timing for initial appearance of the three species around the coastal area of Namhaedo, Narodo and Wando was between Bate July and late August in 1999 when water temperature ranged from $22.8^{\circ}C\;to\;26.5^{\circ}C$ Vegetative cells of C. polykrikoides and G. impudicum were abundant until late September when water temperature had been dropped to less than $23^{\circ}C$. By contrast, vegetative cell of G. catenatum disappeared before early September, showing shorter period of abundance than the other two species in the South Sea. Both G. impudicum and G. catenatum revealed comparatively low density with a maximal cell density of 3,460 cells/L and 440 cells/L, respectively without making any bloom, while C. polykrikoides made massive blooms with a maximal cell density more than $40\times10^6$cells/L, The three species showed a better growth at the relatively higher water temperature ranging from 22 to $28^{\circ}C$ with their maximal growth rate at $25^{\circ}C$ in culture, which almost corresponded with the water temperature during the outbreak of C. polykrikoides in the coastal area of South Sea. Also, they all showed a relatively higher growth at the salinity from 30 to $35\%$. Specially, G. impudicum showed the euryhalic characteristics among the species, On the other hand, growth rate of G. catenatum decreased sharply with the increase of water temperature at the experimental ranges more than $35\%$. The higher of light intensities showed the better growth rates for the three species, Moreover, C. polykrikoides and G. impudirum continued their exponential growth even at 7,500 lux, the highest level of light intensity in the experiment, Therefore, It is assumed that C. polykrikoides has a physiological capability to adapt and utilize higher irradiance resulting in the higher growth rate without any photo inhibition response at the sea surface where there is usually strong irradiance during its blooming season. Although C. poiykikoides and G. impudicum continued their linear growth with the increase of nitrate ($NO_3^-$) and ammonium ($NH_4^-$) concentrations at less than the $40{\mu}M$, they didn't show any significant differences in growth rates with the increase of nitrate and ammonium concentrations at more than $40{\mu}M$, signifying that the nitrogen critical point for the growth of the two species stands between 13.5 and $40{\mu}M$. Also, even though both of the two species continued their linear growth with the increase of phosphate ($PO_4^{2-}$) concentrations at less than the $4.05{\mu}M$, there were no any significant differences in growth rates with the increase of phosphate concentrations at more than $4.05{\mu}M$, signifying that the phosphate critical point for the growth of the two species stands between 1.35 and $4.05{\mu}M$. On the other hand, C. polykrikoides has made blooms at the oligotrophic environment near Narodo and Namhaedo where the concentration of DIN and DIP are less than 1.2 and $0.3{\mu}M$, respectively. We attributed this phenomenon to its own ecological characteristics of diel vertical migration through which C. polykrikoides could uptake enough nutrients from the deep sea water near bottom during the night time irrespective of the lower nutrient pools in the surface water.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.611-614
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• 2003

The rheological properties of exopolysaccharide, p-KG03, produced by marine microalgae Gyrodinium impudicum strain KG03 had been studied. The intrinsic viscosity of this p-KG03 was calculated to 65.22 and 50.75 $d{\ell}/g$ using Huggins and Kramer equations (xanthan gum 24.41 and 24.03). Aqueous dispersions at p-KG03 concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 % (w/w) showed marked shear-thinning properties as Power-Law behavior. In aqueous dispersions of p-KG03 1.0 %, consistency index (K) and flow behavior index (n) were 2,172 and 0.52. The apparent viscosity and the influence of shear rate on different conditions as p-KG03 concentrations, pH, NaCl, $CaCl_2$ and temperature in aqueous solutions were measured. And p-KG03 had mixed with aqueous solutions of xanthan gum and gellan gum, and invested the change of mixed aqueous solution behavior.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.172-175
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• 1999

Relative DNA contents in some harmful algae were measured using DAPI staining and image analysis system. This method was useful to identify some morphologically similar species and isolates from harmful algal blooms (HABs). In exponential phase, Prorocentrum micans had higher relative DNA content (RD) of $1.83\pm0.52$ than any other isolates, followed by Cochlodinium polykrikoides $(1.10\pm0.46)$ Alexandrium tamarense $(0.93\pm0.32)$ Gyrodinium impudicum $(0.56\pm0.17)$, Scrippsiella trochoidea $(0.41\pm0.26)$ and P. minimum$(0.05\pm0.01)$. When they were fixed with Lugol's solution, it was difficult to d,iscern C. polykrikoides from G. impudicum under the light microscope, but the DNA contents were quite different in two species. C. polykrikoides contained about twice as much RD as G. impudicum under the same culture conditions and exponential phase. DAPI­stained DNA feature in C. polykrikodes showed concentrated in the peripheral part of the cell, but in G. impudicum showed a compact structure in the central part. Although A. tamarense and S. trochoidea were morphologically similar under the light microscope, nuclear DNA content of A. tamarense was twice as much as that of S. trochoidea.