Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 23, 2026

Measuring Photophysiology of Attached Stage of Colacium sp. by a Cuvette-Type Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer
Published on: November 12, 2021
DINOPHYSIS CAUDATA (DINOPHYCEAE) SEQUESTERS AND RETAINS PLASTIDS FROM THE MIXOTROPHIC CILIATE PREY MESODINIUM
Miran Kim1, Seung Won Nam1, Woongghi Shin1
1LOHABE, Department of Oceanography, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, KoreaDepartment of Biological Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 306-764, KoreaSmithsonian Environmental Research Center, P.O. Box 28, 647 Contees Wharf Rd., Edgewater, MD 21037, USALOHABE, Department of Oceanography, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea.
Abstract:
"Phototrophic"Dinophysis Ehrenberg species are well known to have chloroplasts of a cryptophyte origin, more specifically of the cryptophyte genus complex Teleaulax/Geminigera. Nonetheless, whether chloroplasts of "phototrophic"Dinophysis are permanent plastids or periodically derived kleptoplastids (stolen chloroplasts) has not been confirmed. Indeed, molecular sequence data and ultrastructural data lead to contradictory interpretations about the status of Dinophysis plastids. Here, we used established cultures of D. caudata strain DC-LOHABE01 and M. rubrum strain MR-MAL01 to address the status of Dinophysis plastids. Our approach was to experimentally generate D. caudata with "green" plastids and then follow the ingestion and fate of "reddish-brown" prey plastids using light microscopy, time-lapse videography, and single-cell TEM. Our results for D. caudata resolve the apparent discrepancy between morphological and molecular data by showing that plastids acquired when feeding on M. rubrum are structurally modified and retained as stellate compound chloroplasts characteristic of Dinophysis species.
Related Concept Videos
Diversity of Protists III
Diversity of Protists II
Diversity of Protists I
Diversity of Protists IV
Red Algae
Plasmodesmata
Intercellular junctions are a feature of fungal, plant, and animal cells. However, different types of junctions are found in different kinds of cells. Intercellular junctions found in animal cells include tight junctions, gap junctions, and...

