Gymnodinium Explained

Gymnodinium is a genus of dinoflagellates, a type of marine and freshwater plankton. It is one of the few naked dinoflagellates, or species lacking armor known as cellulosic plates. Since 2000, the species which had been considered to be part of Gymnodinium have been divided into several genera, based on the nature of the apical groove and partial LSU rDNA sequence data.^[1] Amphidinium was redefined later.^{[2] [3]} Gymnodinium belong to red dinoflagellates that, in concentration, can cause red tides.^[4] The red tides produced by some Gymnodinium, such as Gymnodinium catenatum, are toxic and pose risks to marine and human life, including paralytic shellfish poisoning.^{[5] [6] [7]}

Segregate genera

• Gymnodinium sensu stricto
• Akashiwo
• Amphidinium
• Gyrodinium
• Karenia
• Karlodinium
• Katodinium

Former species

Torodinium (with Torodinium robustum and the type species Torodinium teredo) were both formerly Gymnodinium teredo until 1921.^[8]

Further reading

• Estrada . Norma . Ascencio . Felipe . Shoshani . Liora . Apoptosis of hemocytes from lions-paw scallop Nodipecten subnodosus induced with paralyzing shellfish poison from Gymnodinium catenatum . Contreras . December 2014 . 219 . 12 . 964–974 . 10.1016/j.imbio.2014.07.006 . 25097151 .
• Thessen . Annie E. . Patterson . David J. . Murray . Shauna A. . The Taxonomic Significance of Species That Have Only Been Observed Once: The Genus Gymnodinium (Dinoflagellata) as an Example . PLOS ONE . 30 August 2012 . 7 . 8 . e44015 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0044015 . 22952856 . 3431360. 2012PLoSO...744015T . free .

Notes and References

1. Daugbjerg . N. . Hansen . G. . Larsen . J. . Moestrup . Ø. . 2000 . Phylogeny of some of the major genera of dinoflagellates based on ultrastructure and partial LSU rDNA sequence data, including the erection of three new genera of unarmoured dinoflagellates . Phycologia . 39 . 4. 302–317 . 10.2216/i0031-8884-39-4-302.1. 86456565 .
2. M. Flo . Jorgensen . Murray . S. . Daugbjerg . N. . Amphidinium revisited. I. Redefinition of Amphidinium (Dinophyceae) based on cladistic and molecular phylogenetic analysis . Journal of Phycology . 40 . 2 . 351–365 . 2004 . 10.1111/j.1529-8817.2004.03131.x . 53637890 .
3. Murray . S. . Flo Jorgensen . M. . Daugbjerg . N. . Rhodes . L. . 2004. Amphidinium revisited. II. Resolving species boundaries in the Amphidinium operculatum species complex (Dinophyceae), including the descriptions of Amphidinium trulla sp. nov. and Amphidinium gibbosum comb. nov . Journal of Phycology . 40 . 2. 366–382 . 10.1046/j.1529-8817.2004.03132.x. 53572161 .
4. Molecular typing of the red-tide dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra in phytoplankton suspensions . Aquatic Microbial Ecology . Rollo . Franco . 9 . 55 . 1995-04-28 . 2015-04-25 . Stefano . Sassarolil . Laurita . Boni . Isolina . Marota . 10.3354/ame009055. free .
5. Book: Heimann . Kirsten . Gymnodinium and Related Dinoflagellates . Gymnodiniumand Related Dinoflagellates . John Wiley & Sons, Ltd . 2012. 10.1002/9780470015902.a0001967.pub2 . 978-0470016176 .
6. Mee . Laurence D. . Espinosa . Mayola . Diaz . Gilberto . Paralytic shellfish poisoning with a gymnodinium catenatum red tide on the Pacific coast of Mexico . Marine Environmental Research . 1986 . 19 . 1 . 77–92 . Elsevier. 10.1016/0141-1136(86)90040-1 . 1986MarER..19...77M .
7. Ramirez . Camarena . Cortes . Altamirano . Munoz . Cabrera . Red tide caused by the dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum off Mazatlan Bay, Sinaloa, Mexico in 1997 . Revista de Biología Tropical . 1999 . 47 . 77–80.
8. Kofoid, C.A. and Swezy, O. 1921: The free-living unarmored dinoflagellate. University of California Press, Berkeley, California, USA