Toxin and Growth Responses of the Neurotoxic Dinoflagellate Vulcanodinium rugosum to Varying Temperature and Salinity

Vulcanodinium rugosum, a recently described species, produces pinnatoxins. The IFR-VRU-01 strain, isolated from a French Mediterranean lagoon in 2010 and identified as the causative dinoflagellate contaminating mussels in the Ingril Lagoon (French Mediterranean) with pinnatoxin-G, was grown in an enriched natural seawater medium. We tested the effect of temperature and salinity on growth, pinnatoxin-G production and chlorophyll a levels of this dinoflagellate. These factors were tested in combinations of five temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C) and five salinities (20, 25, 30, 35 and 40) at an irradiance of 100 µmol photon m−2 s−1. V. rugosum can grow at temperatures and salinities ranging from 20 °C to 30 °C and 20 to 40, respectively. The optimal combination for growth (0.39 ± 0.11 d−1) was a temperature of 25 °C and a salinity of 40. Results suggest that V. rugosum is euryhaline and thermophile which could explain why this dinoflagellate develops in situ only from June to September. V. rugosum growth rate and pinnatoxin-G production were highest at temperatures ranging between 25 and 30 °C. This suggests that the dinoflagellate may give rise to extensive blooms in the coming decades caused by the climate change-related increases in temperature expected in the Mediterranean coasts.

Toxicity and Growth Assessments of Three Thermophilic Benthic Dinoflagellates (Ostreopsis cf. ovata, Prorocentrum lima and Coolia monotis) Developing in the Southern Mediterranean Basin

armful benthic dinoflagellates, usually developing in tropical areas, are expanding to temperate ecosystems facing water warming. Reports on harmful benthic species are particularly scarce in the Southern Mediterranean Sea. For the first time, three thermophilic benthic dinoflagellates (Ostreopsis cf. ovata, Prorocentrum lima and Coolia monotis) were isolated from Bizerte Bay (Tunisia, Mediterranean) and monoclonal cultures established. The ribotyping confirmed the morphological identification of the three species. Maximum growth rates were 0.59 ± 0.08 d−1 for O. cf. ovata, 0.35 ± 0.01 d−1 for C. monotis and 0.33 ± 0.04 d−1 for P. lima. Toxin analyses revealed the presence of ovatoxin-a and ovatoxin-b in O. cf. ovata cells. Okadaic acid and dinophysistoxin-1 were detected in P. lima cultures. For C. monotis, a chromatographic peak at 5.6 min with a mass m/z = 1061.768 was observed, but did not correspond to a mono-sulfated analogue of the yessotoxin. A comparison of the toxicity and growth characteristics of these dinoflagellates, distributed worldwide, is proposed.