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Alkaline Phosphatase Activity in the Toxic Dinoflagellate Karenia brevis

¹ Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts
² Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Over the past two decades, there has been an increase in both the occurrence and geographic extent of harmful algal blooms such as those of the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis, further perpetuating threats to marine environments and to human health. K. brevis can cause neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP) and respiratory irritation in humans. Blooms of K. brevis are common off the coast of Florida and seriously impact local economies when they occur. Despite its importance, little is known about how K. brevis acquires phosphorus, a nutrient critical to dinoflagellate nutrition. In this study, the enzyme alkaline phosphatase was examined. This is an enzyme that hydrolyzes organic phosphorus into a bioavailable form, typically after inorganic phosphate has been depleted. Axenic K. brevis CCMP 2281 cultures were grown in triplicate treatments of nutrient replete, low nitrogen (50 µM), and low phosphorus (1 µM) L1 medium. Alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) was assayed using both bulk and cell-specific (Enzyme Labeled Fluorescence) methods. Cell-specific assays suggested that APA in low phosphorus treatments was five-fold higher on average than the nutrient replete treatments, and almost four-fold higher than the low nitrogen treatments. Bulk assays corroborated a higher rate of APA in the low phosphorus treatments relative to the controls.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Craney, A. C. Articles by Dyhrman, S. T. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Craney, A. C. Articles by Dyhrman, S. T.