Sexual Reproduction in Dinoflagellates—The Case of Noctiluca scintillans and Its Ecological Implications

Noctiluca scintillans is a larger, bioluminescent red-tide dinoflagellate (400–1,000 μm in diameter) that reproduces by sexual or asexual reproduction (binary fission). The process of sexual reproduction in N. scintillans has been thoroughly studied, but the ecological role and the mechanism of shif...

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Autores principales:	Jeffery Liang-Neng Lee, Kuo-Ping Chiang, Sheng-Fang Tsai
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	dinoflagellate gametes gametogenesis gametocyte mother cell prey concentration encounter rate Science Q General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution QH1-199.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/2a2e25789d834d51aff4ada537adcc7c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:2a2e25789d834d51aff4ada537adcc7c2021-11-17T04:36:06ZSexual Reproduction in Dinoflagellates—The Case of Noctiluca scintillans and Its Ecological Implications2296-774510.3389/fmars.2021.704398https://doaj.org/article/2a2e25789d834d51aff4ada537adcc7c2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.704398/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745Noctiluca scintillans is a larger, bioluminescent red-tide dinoflagellate (400–1,000 μm in diameter) that reproduces by sexual or asexual reproduction (binary fission). The process of sexual reproduction in N. scintillans has been thoroughly studied, but the ecological role and the mechanism of shifting from asexual to sexual reproduction have not been fully elucidated. It is believed, however, that sexual reproduction occurs when N. scintillans faces environmental stress. In this study, we tried to determine which factors drive N. scintillans to undergo sexual reproduction and we considered sexual reproduction’s ecological role. We cultured N. scintillans under different conditions of temperature, N. scintillans cell concentration, prey concentration, cultivation time, cultivation volume, light exposure time and physical vibration (simulated wave motion), and counted gametocyte mother cells every 24 h to calculate how the sexual reproduction rate changed over the experimental period. Rises in the sexual reproduction rate or the concentration of gametocyte mother cells only occurred in response to large variations in prey concentration, typically after the exponential phase of N. scintillans population growth. A noticeable upsurge in gametocyte mother cells, from 1% or less to nearly 10% of the total N. scintillans population, occurred when the prey concentration fell below ∼400 cells/mL. This implies that a sudden decrease in prey concentration induces more N. scintillans to shift from trophonts to gametocyte mother cells. We suggest that sexual reproduction may occur in N. scintillans as a response to the post-bloom situation when the dinoflagellate’s food supply has been dramatically depleted, producing large numbers of gametes for an alternative mode of survival after the end of each bloom.Jeffery Liang-Neng LeeKuo-Ping ChiangSheng-Fang TsaiSheng-Fang TsaiFrontiers Media S.A.articledinoflagellategametesgametogenesisgametocyte mother cellprey concentrationencounter rateScienceQGeneral. Including nature conservation, geographical distributionQH1-199.5ENFrontiers in Marine Science, Vol 8 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	dinoflagellate gametes gametogenesis gametocyte mother cell prey concentration encounter rate Science Q General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution QH1-199.5
spellingShingle	dinoflagellate gametes gametogenesis gametocyte mother cell prey concentration encounter rate Science Q General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Jeffery Liang-Neng Lee Kuo-Ping Chiang Sheng-Fang Tsai Sheng-Fang Tsai Sexual Reproduction in Dinoflagellates—The Case of Noctiluca scintillans and Its Ecological Implications
description	Noctiluca scintillans is a larger, bioluminescent red-tide dinoflagellate (400–1,000 μm in diameter) that reproduces by sexual or asexual reproduction (binary fission). The process of sexual reproduction in N. scintillans has been thoroughly studied, but the ecological role and the mechanism of shifting from asexual to sexual reproduction have not been fully elucidated. It is believed, however, that sexual reproduction occurs when N. scintillans faces environmental stress. In this study, we tried to determine which factors drive N. scintillans to undergo sexual reproduction and we considered sexual reproduction’s ecological role. We cultured N. scintillans under different conditions of temperature, N. scintillans cell concentration, prey concentration, cultivation time, cultivation volume, light exposure time and physical vibration (simulated wave motion), and counted gametocyte mother cells every 24 h to calculate how the sexual reproduction rate changed over the experimental period. Rises in the sexual reproduction rate or the concentration of gametocyte mother cells only occurred in response to large variations in prey concentration, typically after the exponential phase of N. scintillans population growth. A noticeable upsurge in gametocyte mother cells, from 1% or less to nearly 10% of the total N. scintillans population, occurred when the prey concentration fell below ∼400 cells/mL. This implies that a sudden decrease in prey concentration induces more N. scintillans to shift from trophonts to gametocyte mother cells. We suggest that sexual reproduction may occur in N. scintillans as a response to the post-bloom situation when the dinoflagellate’s food supply has been dramatically depleted, producing large numbers of gametes for an alternative mode of survival after the end of each bloom.
format	article
author	Jeffery Liang-Neng Lee Kuo-Ping Chiang Sheng-Fang Tsai Sheng-Fang Tsai
author_facet	Jeffery Liang-Neng Lee Kuo-Ping Chiang Sheng-Fang Tsai Sheng-Fang Tsai
author_sort	Jeffery Liang-Neng Lee
title	Sexual Reproduction in Dinoflagellates—The Case of Noctiluca scintillans and Its Ecological Implications
title_short	Sexual Reproduction in Dinoflagellates—The Case of Noctiluca scintillans and Its Ecological Implications
title_full	Sexual Reproduction in Dinoflagellates—The Case of Noctiluca scintillans and Its Ecological Implications
title_fullStr	Sexual Reproduction in Dinoflagellates—The Case of Noctiluca scintillans and Its Ecological Implications
title_full_unstemmed	Sexual Reproduction in Dinoflagellates—The Case of Noctiluca scintillans and Its Ecological Implications
title_sort	sexual reproduction in dinoflagellates—the case of noctiluca scintillans and its ecological implications
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/2a2e25789d834d51aff4ada537adcc7c
work_keys_str_mv	AT jefferyliangnenglee sexualreproductionindinoflagellatesthecaseofnoctilucascintillansanditsecologicalimplications AT kuopingchiang sexualreproductionindinoflagellatesthecaseofnoctilucascintillansanditsecologicalimplications AT shengfangtsai sexualreproductionindinoflagellatesthecaseofnoctilucascintillansanditsecologicalimplications AT shengfangtsai sexualreproductionindinoflagellatesthecaseofnoctilucascintillansanditsecologicalimplications
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Sexual Reproduction in Dinoflagellates—The Case of Noctiluca scintillans and Its Ecological Implications

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