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BIOCHEMISTRY OF DINOFLAGELLATE LIPIDS, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE FATTY ACID AND STEROL COMPOSITION OF A KARENIA BREVIS BLOOM
Citation:
Leblond, J. D., T. J. Evens, AND P J. Chapman. BIOCHEMISTRY OF DINOFLAGELLATE LIPIDS, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE FATTY ACID AND STEROL COMPOSITION OF A KARENIA BREVIS BLOOM. PHYCOLOGIA 42(4):324-331, (2003).
Impact/Purpose:
Journal Article
Description:
Leblond, Jeffrey D., Terence J. Evens and Peter J. Chapman. 2003. Biochemistry of Dinoflagellate Lipids, with Particular Reference to the Fatty Acid and Sterol Composition of a Karenia brevis Bloom. Phycologia. 42(4):324-331. (ERL,GB 1160).
The harmful marine dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis (Dinophyceae), frequently forms large toxic blooms in the waters off of the west coast of Florida (USA) and is responsible for massive fish kills and public health concerns. Despite decades of field studies on this organism, no investigation has yet characterized the lipid composition of a K. brevis bloom. To address this lack of information, samples from a 1999 K. brevis bloom from the northwest Florida coast were analyzed for their fatty acid and sterol composition. Fatty acids found in lipid fractions containing membrane phospholipids, chloroplast-associated glycolipids, and storage triglycerides differed significantly. The glycolipid fraction was found to contain octadecapentaenoic acid [18:5(n-3)], a fatty acid commonly associated with dinoflagellates. The phospholipid fraction was found to contain small amounts of two recently described, highly unsaturated fatty acids, octacosaoctaenoic acid [28:8(n-3)] and octacosaheptaenoic acid [28:7(n-6)]. Fatty acids from the triglyceride fraction were more abundant than those associated with glycolipid or phospholipids. Sterols were found mainly as free sterols and were dominated by two compounds (24S)-4a-methyl-5a-ergosta-8(14),22-dien-3b-ol (ED) and its 27-nor derivative (NED). The lipid composition of these samples very closely resembles laboratory-grown cultures of K. brevis and serves to provide an in situ field validation of past laboratory eaminations of this organism. The implications of our data are discussed in the context of the physiological autecology of K. brevis, in the form of a minireview on the biochemistry of dinoflagellate lipids, as studied in both the laboratory and the environment.
Former title: Fatty Acid and Sterol Composition of a Karenia brevis Bloom off the Northwest Florida Coast.