Karenia brevis

Karenia brevis

Karenia brevis (synonym: Gymnodinium breve or brevis Ptychodiscus ) is a single, non-armored, marine dinoflagellate with a size of 20-40 microns in diameter. The organism frequently occurs in the Gulf of Mexico off, where he caused before Florida regularly plankton blooms, the Red Tides so-called. K. brevis produces a number of toxins, which are summarized as brevetoxins. These toxins may cause during mass extinctions of planktonic blooms in fish, birds and mammals. K. brevis is photosynthetic, but does not contain peridinin.

Ecology and distribution

K. brevis is phototactic and negatively geotaktisch, which means that the cells swim towards light and against gravity. The cells can reach a speed of 1 m / h. The cells are phototrophic. In the coastal waters of southwest Florida, with periodic mass gatherings of K. brevis, whereby the water discolored reddish. Even the Spanish sailors in the 18th century reported by such red tides in this region.

Proof

To the harmful plankton blooms predict and to combat possibly, the K. brevis must be closely monitored. Traditional methods for detecting K. brevis based on microscopy and pigment analysis, but they are time consuming and require an experienced scientist. In addition, the type are propagated in enrichment cultures, and demonstrated, which is also costly and time-consuming. Therefore, a molecular genetic detection method based on PCR have been developed.