Gonyaulax dinoflagellate

Exogenous. Tetrodotoxin is not produced by the animal but arises from the food chain in some manner, for instance, similar to the way saxitoxin is concentrated by shellfish that ingest the toxic Gonyaulax dinoflagellates. 

Since the year 2001, the species name Lingulodinium polyedrum (Stein) Dodge 1989 is widely used in place of Gonyaulax polyedra Stein 1883. Considering that many important papers on dinoflagel-late luminescence have been published using the old name, the name Gonyaulax is used in this book. 

Fig. 8.1 Luminescence spectra of luciferin-luciferase reaction of the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra (Lingulodinium polyedrum) in a solution (solid line), isolated scintillons (x), and living Gonyaulax cells (o). From Hastings et al., 1966.

Bae, Y. M., and Hastings, J. W. (1994). Cloning, sequencing and expression of dinoflagellate luciferase DNA from a marine alga. Gonyaulax polyedra. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1219 449-456. 

DeSa, R., and Hastings, J. W. (1968). The characterization of scintillons. Bioluminescent particles from the marine dinoflagellate, Gonyaulax polye-dra.J. Gen. Physiol. 51 105-122. 

Hastings, J. W., and Sweeney, B. M. (1957). The luminescence reaction in extracts of the marine dinoflagellate, Gonyaulax polyedra. J. Cell. Comp. Physiol. 49 209-226. 

Lee, D. H., et al. (1993). Molecular cloning and genomic organization of a gene for luciferin-binding protein from the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra. J. Biol. Chem. 268 8842-8850. 

Li, L., and Hastings, J. W. (1998). The structure and organization of the luciferase gene in the photosynthetic dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra. Plant Mol. Biol. 36 275-284. 

Seliger, H. H., Biggley, W. H., and Swift, E. (1969). Absolute values of photon emission from the marine dinoflagellates Pyrodinium bahamense, Gonyaulax polyedra and Pyrocystis lunula. Photochem. Photobiol. 10 227-232. 

Saxitoxin was first isolated from Alaskan butter clam Saxidomus giganteuSy but is actually produced by the dinoflagellate, Gonyaulax spp (i,2). More than a dozen related toxins have been isolated by several groups including ours (i). All of the toxins have the same unique tricyclic perhydropurine skeleton, and there were various speculations about the origin of the perhydropurine ring (I). 

Rapid-acting paralytic neurotoxins that blocks transient sodium channels and inhibits depolarization of nerve cells. They are some of the causative agents of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). They are obtained from dinoflagellates (Gonyaulax spp., Alexandrium spp.) and cyanobacteria (Anabaena circinalis). 

The purpose of this paper is to examine our present knowledge of the cysts of the toxic Gonyaulax species to see whether these hypothetical considerations are valid representations of the actual roles cysts play in toxic dinoflagellate blooms and shellfish toxicity. 

Anderson, D. M. Lindquist, N. L. Sexuality and cyst formation in the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax tamarensis II. Time-course measurements of phosphorus limitation. Manuscript under review. 

Paralytic shellfish toxins in the dinoflagellate ProtogonyauZax =Gonyaulax) spp. and bivalves of temperate waters have been the subjects of extensive studies. In contrast, information on the occurrence of these toxins in tropical waters has been scarce. 

Saxitoxin is only one of ten to twelve closely related naturally occurring toxins produced by dinoflagellates of the genus Gonyaulax (39). Could it be that tetrodotoxin is also but one member of a larger group of related toxins ... 

White, A. W., Sensitivity of marine fishes to toxins from the red-tide dinoflagellate Gonyaulax excavata and implications for fish kills, Mar. Biol., 65, 255, 1981. 

Observations of MAA synthesis relative to radiation exposure have been reported for several other dinoflagellate species (Table 15.5). In all but one study, increases in visible light intensities caused increases in the MAA concentration of cells.166 171 172 The exception was the dinoflagellate, Lingulodinium (Gonyaulax) polyedra, where exposure to visible light plus UV stimulated a 70% increase in the UV absorption of cells, but exposure to visible light alone resulted in an estimated 30% decline in cellular UV absorption.129... 

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