Isolation and characterization of a novel chytrid species (phylum Blastocladiomycota), parasitic on the green alga Haematococcus.

A parasite was found in cultures of the green microalga Haematococcus pluvialis that grew epibiotically on algal cells and caused epidemics resulting in damage to the host cultures. The parasite was isolated into axenic culture on solid and liquid media. It was demonstrated to be the sole causative agent of the epidemics. According to its life cycle and phylogenetic analysis based on 18S ribosomal DNA sequences, the pathogen appears to represent a novel chytrid fungus closely related to the vascular plant pathogen Physoderma (Blastocladiomycota), although it differs from all other known chytrids by its infective stage, a wall-less propagule endowed with amoeboid motion and lacking the group's typical flagellum.

[1]  T. White.  Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics , 1990 .

[2]  E. Becker.  Microalgae: Biotechnology and Microbiology , 1994 .

[3]  Joyce E. Longcore,et al.  THALASSOCHYTRIUM GRACILARIOPSIDIS (CHYTRIDIOMYCOTA), GEN. ET SP. NOV., ENDOSYMBIOTIC IN GRACILARIOPSIS SP. (RHODOPHYCEAE) , 1999 .

[4]  H. Holfeld.  Relative abundance, rate of increase, and fungal infections of freshwater phytoplankton , 2000 .

[5]  Thomas J. White,et al.  PCR protocols: a guide to methods and applications. , 1990 .

[6]  Peter M. Letcher,et al.  A molecular phylogeny of the flagellated fungi (Chytridiomycota) and description of a new phylum (Blastocladiomycota). , 2006, Mycologia.

[7]  F. Gleason,et al.  Preservation of Chytridiomycota in culture collections. , 2007, Mycological research.

[8]  M. Powell.  Looking at mycology with a Janus face: a glimpse at chytridiomycetes active in the environment , 1993 .

[9]  K. Bruning.  Effects of temperature and light on the population dynamics of the Asterionella-Rhizophydium association , 1991 .

[10]  K. Bruning.  Infection of the diatom Asterionella by a chytrid. II. Effects of light on survival and epidemic development of the parasite , 1991 .

[11]  V. Huss,et al.  Hyaloraphidium curvatum is not a green alga, but a lower fungus; Amoebidium parasiticum is not a fungus, but a member of the DRIPs. , 2000, Protist.

[12]  L. Haley.  Introductory Mycology , 1953, The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine.

[13]  Miguel Olaizola,et al.  Commercial production of astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis using 25,000-liter outdoor photobioreactors , 2000, Journal of Applied Phycology.

[14]  J. Deacon,et al.  Orientated zoospore attachment and cyst germination in Catenaria anguillulae, a facultative endoparasite of nematodes , 1997 .

[15]  R. Vilgalys,et al.  Rapid genetic identification and mapping of enzymatically amplified ribosomal DNA from several Cryptococcus species , 1990, Journal of bacteriology.

[16]  L. Mendoza,et al.  The class mesomycetozoea: a heterogeneous group of microorganisms at the animal-fungal boundary. , 2002, Annual review of microbiology.

[17]  L. Lange,et al.  Germination of the resting sporangia ofPhysoderma maydis, the causal agent ofPhysoderma disease of maize , 1980, Protoplasma.

[18]  S. Goldstein.  PHYSIOLOGY OF AQUATIC FUNGI I , 1960, Journal of bacteriology.

[19]  D. Barr,et al.  An outline for the reclassification of the Chytridiales, and for a new order, the Spizellomycetales , 1980 .

[20]  J. Longcore,et al.  BATRACHOCHYTRIUM DENDROBATIDIS GEN. ET SP. NOV., A CHYTRID PATHOGENIC TO AMPHIBIANS , 1999 .

[21]  Michael P. Cummings,et al.  PAUP* [Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (and Other Methods)] , 2004 .

[22]  A. Vonshak,et al.  Astaxanthin Accumulation in the Green Alga Haematococcus pluvialis1 , 1991 .

[23]  A. Abeliovich,et al.  Factors Affecting Infection of Scenedesmus obliquus by a Chytridium sp. in Sewage Oxidation Ponds , 1977, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[24]  N. Pace,et al.  Rapid determination of 16S ribosomal RNA sequences for phylogenetic analyses. , 1985, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[25]  M. P. Cummings,et al.  PAUP* Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (*and other methods) Version 4 , 2000 .

[26]  Timothy Y. James,et al.  Molecular phylogenetics of the Chytridiomycota supports the utility of ultrastructural data in chytrid systematics , 2000 .

[27]  T. Mexia,et al.  Author ' s personal copy , 2009 .

[28]  B. Wang,et al.  ASTAXANTHIN ACCUMULATION IN HAEMATOCOCCUS PLUVIALIS (CHLOROPHYCEAE) AS AN ACTIVE PHOTOPROTECTIVE PROCESS UNDER HIGH IRRADIANCE 1 , 2003 .

[29]  C. Aflalo,et al.  The Effect of the Herbicide Glufosinate (BASTA) on Astaxanthin Accumulation in the Green Alga Haematococcus pluvialis , 1999 .

[30]  S. Goldstein.  Aquatic Phycomycetes , 1961, The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine.

[31]  T. Miller.  Systematics and evolution , 1987 .

[32]  K. Bruning.  Infection of the diatom Asterionella by a chytrid. I. Effects of light on reproduction and infectivity of the parasite , 1991 .

[33]  M. Fuller,et al.  Zoosporic fungi in teaching and research. , 1987 .

[34]  J. Ringelberg,et al.  The effect of fungal parasitism on the succession of diatoms in Lake Maarsseveen (I) , 1983 .

[35]  A. Zarka,et al.  Presence of a Nonhydrolyzable Biopolymer in the Cell Wall of Vegetative Cells and Astaxanthin-Rich Cysts of Haematococcus pluvialis (Chlorophyceae) , 2001, Marine Biotechnology.

[36]  M. Brehm,et al.  HOST PARASITE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN FRESHWATER PHYTOPLANKTON AND CHYTRID FUNGI (CHYTRIDIOMYCOTA) 1 , 2004 .

[37]  H. Holfeld.  Fungal infections of the phytoplankton: seasonality, minimal host density, and specificity in a mesotrophic lake. , 1998 .

[38]  J. W. G. Lund,et al.  Freshwater Algae: Their Microscopic World Explored , 1995 .

[39]  P. Pukkila,et al.  Inheritance of DNA methylation in Coprinus cinereus , 1986, Molecular and cellular biology.

[40]  Woongghi Shin,et al.  Entophlyctis apiculata, a chytrid parasite of Chlamydomonas sp. (Chlorophyceae) , 2001 .

[41]  B. Ibelings,et al.  Parasitic chytrids: their effects on phytoplankton communities and food-web dynamics , 2007, Hydrobiologia.

[42]  K. Mamkaeva,et al.  Morphology and possible host range of Rhizophydium algavorum sp. Nov.. (Chytridiales) an obligate parasite of algae , 1999 .

[43]  N. Nishio,et al.  Morphological changes in the life cycle of the green alga Haematococcus pluvialis , 1997 .

[44]  C. Bracker.  Ultrastructure of Fungi , 1967 .

[45]  M. M. Bradford.  A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. , 1976, Analytical biochemistry.

[46]  Pieter T. J. Johnson,et al.  Chytrid infections of Daphnia pulicaria: development, ecology, pathology and phylogeny of Polycaryum laeve , 2006 .