Karenia Brevis

By Alexander Ramirez

Figure 1. Picture of a dinoflagellate. Image from: Red Tide: What is the algae species Karenia brevis? | Smithsonian Ocean (si.edu)

Introduction

Karenia Brevis are commonly known as dinoflagellates or most commonly known as the "Red Tide" (Burton, R. 2018).

Fun fact: Karenia Brevis do not drift with the current, instead they travel using vertical migration while hitting speeds up to 1 m/h (Karenia brevis).

Primary source of literature: Gao, Y., Erdner, D.L. (2022) Cell death responses to acute high light mediated by non-photochemical quenching in the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. Scientific Reports 12, 14081.

Figure 2. Map of the areas where Red Tide occurs often. Image from: Seasonal Forecasting of Karenia brevis Red Tide Blooms in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico - NCCOS Coastal Science Website (noaa.gov)

Background

The genus of the Karenia Brevis is labeled the "Karenia".

They are unicellular photosynthetic organisms.

They are also known as dinoflagellates being the single cell eukaryotes.

Domain: Eukarya (Red Tide)
Kingdom: Protozoa
Phylum: Dinophyta
Class: Dinophyceae
Order: Gymnodiniales
Family: Kareniaceae
Genus: Prorocentrum
Species: Karenia Brevis

K. brevis are found in areas such as the Gulf of Mexico and along the Southwest Florida Shelf (Hall, D. 2020).

They reproduce asexually needing light to survive.

They are known as "Red Tide" due to the fact that they cause a phenomenon to occurs which turn the water into a red color. This red color is accompanied by a brevotoxin that is produced by these Karenia Brevis. This brevotoxin kills off organisms such as fishes and can poison humans too (Burton, R. (2018)).

Figure 3. Photosynthetic responses in K. brevis strain SP3 (a ,c ,e) and TXB4 (b ,d ,f) transferred from 50 to 500, 750 and 1000 µmol m−2 s−1 and the controls (50 µmol m−2 s−1) (Gao et al., 2022).

Experiment

In this experiment, researcher were testing the reactions of the Karenia Brevis to light. They were trying find a relationship between the deaths caused by stress to the photosynthesis when the K. Brevis was put in through trial of high acute light (Gao et al., 2022).

Two different strands of Karenia Brevis were: SP3 and TXB4 (Gao et al., 2022).

The two strands of Karenia Brevis would be maintain under a range of acute light for two or more light periods. The range of light would be 50, 500, 750, and 1000 with the control being 500 (Gao et al., 2022).

Result: Large light shifts in the intensities such from 50 to 1000 caused the largest cell deaths. These were associated to having large increase in caspase-like activity (Gao et al., 2022).

The research shown would further support the fact that Karenia Brevis have a strong light tolerance. This was due to the fact that even at high intensities such as 700, there was no significant change in deaths (Gao et al., 2022).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is learned that the Karenia Brevis needs light to survive but has a high light tolerance. This means that Karenia Brevis are not exactly just low light surviving species but can adapt to their environment. This would allow researchers to understand that these specices of K. Brevis are able to survive high-light environment if they chose to do so (Gao et al., 2022).
This would be important due to the fact that it reinforces the idea that Karenia Brevis are able to photosynthesize and thrive in practically any condition they are put under.

References

Burton, R. (2018, July 15). Red Tide: Karenia brevis. Florida Museum. Retrieved September 19, 2022, from https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/earth-systems/blog/red-tide-karenia-brevis/
Hall, D. (2020, February 19). What exactly is a red tide? Red Tide: What is the algae species Karenia brevis? Retrieved September 19, 2022, from https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/plants-algae/what-exactly-red-tide
Gao, Y., Erdner, D.L. (2022) Cell death responses to acute high light mediated by non-photochemical quenching in the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. Scientific Reports 12, 14081.
Karenia brevis. microbewiki. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2022, from https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Karenia_brevis
Red Tide. Red Tide K. Reikowski BIO 203. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2022, from http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2013/reikowsk_kyli/classification.htm#:~:text=Dinophyta%20posses%20cellulose% 20plates%3B%20they%20are%20unicellular%2C%20and,produce%20harmful%20toxins%2C%20this%20leads%20to %20more%20problems.

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