Achradina pulchra, a Unique Dinoflagellate (Amphilothales, Dinophyceae) with a Radiolarian-like Endoskeleton of Celestite (Strontium Sulfate)

Fernando Gómez; Kostas Kiriakoulakis; Enrique Lara

Achradina pulchra, a Unique Dinoflagellate (Amphilothales, Dinophyceae) with a Radiolarian-like Endoskeleton of Celestite (Strontium Sulfate)

Publication date: 24.11.2017

Acta Protozoologica, 2017, Volume 56, Issue 2, pp. 71-76

https://doi.org/10.4467/16890027AP.17.006.7481

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Achradina pulchra, a Unique Dinoflagellate (Amphilothales, Dinophyceae) with a Radiolarian-like Endoskeleton of Celestite (Strontium Sulfate)

Abstract

We examined the planktonic dinoflagellate Achradina pulchra by light and scanning electron microscopies from the South and North Atlantic oceans. The basket-like skeleton has been interpreted as a thick cell covering or pellicle of organic composition, or as a siliceous endoskeleton. The skeleton of Achradina is known only from fresh material, being absent in preserved samples, sediments or the fossil record. X-ray microanalysis revealed that the endoskeleton of Achradina is composed of celestite (strontium sulfate) with traces of barite (barium sulfate), two minerals that readily dissolve after cell death. To date, Acantharia and polycystine radiolarians (Retaria) were the only known organisms with a skeleton of this composition. We can now add a dinoflagellate to the list of such mineralized skeletons, which influence on the biogeochemical fluxes of strontium and barium in the oceans. Moreover, we provided the first molecular data for a skeleton-bearing dinoflagellate. Molecular phylogeny based on the SSU rRNA gene sequences revealed that Achradina and several environmental clones branched as an independent lineage within the short-branching dinokaryotic dinoflagellates. To date, seven clades of dinokaryotic dinoflagellates are known living as symbionts in the endoplasm of Acantharia and polycystine radiolarians. Because celestite built skeletons were unknown outside radiolarians, we suggested that the ancestors of Achradina acquired the genes implicated in the deposition of strontium and barium from radiolarian hosts though a horizontal gene transfer event between microbial eukaryotes.

Keywords

Acantharea, Amphilothus, barite, celestite skeleton, Dinoflagellata, endosymbiosis, gene transfer, plankton symbiosis, Retaria

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Information

Information: Acta Protozoologica, 2017, Volume 56, Issue 2, pp. 71-76

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/16890027AP.17.006.7481

Article type: Original article

Authors

Fernando Gómez

Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale, Université de Lille, CNRS UMR 8187 LOG, Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences, Maison de la Recherche en Environnement Naturel, 32 av. Foch, 62930 Wimereux, France

Carmen Campos Panisse 3, E-11500 Puerto de Santa María, Spain

Kostas Kiriakoulakis

Faculty of Science, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Merseyside, Liverpool L3 3AF, United Kingdom

Enrique Lara

Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC, Madrid, España

Published at: 24.11.2017

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Percentage share of authors:

Fernando Gómez (Author) - 33%

Kostas Kiriakoulakis (Author) - 33%

Enrique Lara (Author) - 34%

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English

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<p> <em>Achradina pulchr</em>a, a Unique Dinoflagellate (Amphilothales, Dinophyceae) with a Radiolarian-like Endoskeleton of Celestite (Strontium Sulfate)</p>

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