Pfiesteria piscicida

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Pfiesteria piscicida

Scientific classification

Kingdom:

Protista

Pfiesteria piscicida is a dinoflagellate that some researchers claim is responsible for many blooms in the 1980s and 1990s on the coast of North Carolina. Pfiesteria is named after Lois Ann Pfiester (1936–1992), who researched dinoflagellates, and its species name means "fish-killer." The alga was discovered by JoAnn Burkholder at North Carolina State University. An in-depth story of her and her discovery can be found in And the Waters Turned to Blood by Rodney Barker.

While some peer-reviewed research by government and university dinoflagellate experts has shown that its living cycle is extremely complex (these scientists have found at least 24 different stages, spanning from cyst to several amoeba-like forms), other peer-reviewed research by government and university dinoflagellate experts has found only a simple life cycle with no toxic amoebic stage. The original research claimed that the organism apparently moves through many different stages as environmental conditions require. However, the new research from 2002 claims the cycle is much simpler than previously thought, and that the true Pfisteria is non-toxic (see external links). Some peer-reviewed research based on advanced DNA-analyses shows that the organism lacks certain genetic structure to be capable of making the type of toxic proteins associated with typical dinoflagellates. Researchers from the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Medical University of South Carolina, and the College of Charleston (S.C.) have formally isolated and characterized the toxin in the estuarine dinoflagellete Pfiesteria Piscicida and also have identified how the organism transforms from a non-toxic to toxic state. The findings were published in the peer-reviewed science journal, Environmental Science and Technology, on January 11, 2007^[1].

[edit] References

^ Peter D. R. Moeller, Kevin R. Beauchesne, Kevin M. Huncik, W. Clay Davis, Steven J. Christopher, Pamela Riggs-Gelasco, and Andrew K. Gelasco (2007): "Metal Complexes and Free Radical Toxins Produced by Pfiesteria piscicida." Environ. Sci. Technol., 41 (4), 1166 -1172. DOI:10.1021/es0617993