Sunlight concurrently reduces Prymnesium parvum elicited acute toxicity to fish and prymnesins

Cytotoxicity of Prymnesium parvum extracts and prymnesin analogs on epithelial fish gill cells RTgill-W1 and the human colon cell line HCEC-1CT

Harmful algal blooms kill fish populations worldwide, as exemplified by the haptophyte microalga Prymnesium parvum. The suspected causative agents are prymnesins, categorized as A-, B-, and C-types based on backbone carbon atoms. Impacts of P. parvum extracts and purified prymnesins were tested on the epithelial rainbow trout fish gill cell line RTgill-W1 and on the human colon epithelial cells HCEC-1CT. Cytotoxic potencies ranked A > C > B-type with concentrations spanning from low (A- and C-type) to middle (B-type) nM ranges. Although RTgill-W1 cells were about twofold more sensitive than HCEC-1CT, the cytotoxicity of prymnesins is not limited to fish gills. Both cell lines responded rapidly to prymnesins; with EC50 values for B-types in RTgill-W1 cells of 110 ± 11 nM and 41.5 ± 0.6 nM after incubations times of 3 and 24 h. Results of fluorescence imaging and measured lytic effects suggest plasma membrane interactions. Postulating an osmotic imbalance as mechanisms of toxicity, incubations with prymnesins in media lacking either Cl-, Na+, or Ca2+ were performed. Cl- removal reduced morphometric rearrangements observed in RTgill-W1 and cytotoxicity in HCEC-1CT cells. Ca2+-free medium in RTgill-W1 cells exacerbated effects on the cell nuclei. Prymnesin composition of different P. parvum strains showed that analog composition within one type scarcely influenced the cytotoxic potential, while analog type potentially dictate potency. Overall, A-type prymnesins were the most potent ones in both cell lines followed by the C-types, and lastly B-types. Disturbance of Ca2+ and Cl- ionoregulation may be integral to prymnesin toxicity.

Long-read genome sequencing provides novel insights into the harmful algal bloom species Prymnesium parvum

Prymnesium parvum is a toxin-producing haptophyte that causes harmful algal blooms worldwide, which are often associated with massive fish-kills and subsequent economic losses. In here, we present nuclear and plastid genome assemblies using PacBio HiFi long reads and DNBseq short reads for the two P. parvum strains UTEX 2797 and CCMP 3037, representing producers of type A prymnesins. Our results show that the P. parvum strains have a moderate haptophyte genome size of 97.56 and 107.32 Mb. The genome assemblies present one of highest contiguous assembled contig sequences to date consisting of 463 and 362 contigs with a contig N50 of 596.99 kb and 968.39 kb for strain UTEX 2797 and CCMP 3037, respectively. The assembled contigs of UTEX 2797 and CCMP 3037 were anchored to 34 scaffolds, with a scaffold N50 of 5.35 Mb and 3.61 Mb, respectively, accounting for 93.2 % and 97.9 % of the total length. Each plastid genome comprises a circular contig. A total of 20,578 and 19,426 protein-coding genes were annotated for UTEX 2797 and CCMP 3037. The expanded gene family analysis showed that starch and sucrose metabolism, sulfur metabolism, energy metabolism and ABC transporters are involved in the evolution of P. parvum. Polyketide synthase (PKS) genes responsible for the production of secondary metabolites such as prymnesins displayed different expression patterns under nutrient limitation. Overlap with repeats and horizontal gene transfer may be two contributing factors to the high number of PKS genes found in this species. The two high quality P. parvum genomes will serve as valuable resources for ecological, genetic, and toxicological studies of haptophytes that can be used to monitor and potentially manage harmful blooms of ichthyotoxic P. parvum in the future.

Aquatic plant allelochemicals inhibit the growth of microalgae and cyanobacteria in aquatic environments

Excess nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients in the aquatic environment result in the growth of algal cells and water eutrophication, which adversely affect the aquatic environment and human health. Therefore, discovering a safe and efficient algae suppression method is necessary to ensure the ecological safety of water. Recently, the allelopathic effects of aquatic plants on algae have attracted extensive attention from researchers. This review demonstrates the current research hotspot of allelopathic algal inhibition in aquatic plants and lists the common aquatic plant species and allelochemicals. In addition, the inhibition mechanism of allelochemicals from aquatic plants on algae is systematically discussed. Moreover, the key factors affecting the inhibition of allelopathy in algae, such as pH, temperature, algal cell density, and concentration of allelochemicals, are summarized. The present utilization modes of allelochemicals on algae are also presented. Finally, the problems existing in the study of allelopathic algal inhibition of aquatic plants are highlighted, and suggestions for further research are proposed.

Mixotrophic lifestyle of the ichthyotoxic haptophyte, Prymnesium parvum, offered different sources of phosphorus

Many harmful algae are mixoplanktonic, i.e. they combine phototrophy and phagotrophy, and this ability may explain their ecological success, especially when environmental conditions are not optimal for autotrophic growth. In this study, laboratory experiments were conducted with the mixotrophic and ichthyotoxic haptophyte Prymnesium parvum (strain CCAP 946/6) to test the effects of phosphorus (P) sufficiency and deficiency on its growth rate, phagotrophic and lytic activities. P-deficient P. parvum cultures were grown without or with addition of P in the form of inorganic phosphorus (nutrients) and/or living algal prey (i.e. the cryptophyte Teleaulax amphioxeia). The ingestion rate of P. parvum and prey mortality rate were calculated using flow cytometry measurements based on pigment-derived-fluorescence to distinguish between prey, predators and digesting predators. The first aim of the study was to develop a method taking into account the rate of digestion, allowing the calculation of ingestion rates over a two-week period. Growth rates of P. parvum were higher in the treatments with live prey, irrespective of the concentration of inorganic P, and maximum growth rates were found when both inorganic and organic P in form of prey were added (0.79 ± 0.07 d-1). In addition, the mortality rate of T. amphioxeia induced by lytic compounds was 0.2 ± 0.02 d-1 in the P-deficient treatment, while no mortality was observed under P-sufficiency in the present experiments. This study also revealed the mortality due to cell lysis exceeded that of prey ingestion. Therefore, additional experiments were conducted with lysed prey cells. When grown with debris from prey cells, the mean growth rate of P. parvum was similar to monocultures without additions of prey debris (0.30 ± 0.1 vs. 0.38 ± 0.03 d-1), suggesting that P. parvum is able to grow on prey debris, but not as fast as with live prey. These results provide the first quantitative evidence over two weeks of experiment that ingestion of organic P in the form of living prey and/or debris of prey plays an important role in P. parvum growth and may explain its ecological success in a nutrient-limited environments.

Extreme genome diversity and cryptic speciation in a harmful algal-bloom-forming eukaryote

Harmful algal blooms of the toxic haptophyte Prymnesium parvum are a recurrent problem in many inland and estuarine waters around the world. Strains of P. parvum vary in the toxins they produce and in other physiological traits associated with harmful algal blooms, but the genetic basis for this variation is unknown. To investigate genome diversity in this morphospecies, we generated genome assemblies for 15 phylogenetically and geographically diverse strains of P. parvum, including Hi-C guided, near-chromosome-level assemblies for two strains. Comparative analysis revealed considerable DNA content variation between strains, ranging from 115 to 845 Mbp. Strains included haploids, diploids, and polyploids, but not all differences in DNA content were due to variation in genome copy number. Haploid genome size between strains of different chemotypes differed by as much as 243 Mbp. Syntenic and phylogenetic analyses indicate that UTEX 2797, a common laboratory strain from Texas, is a hybrid that retains two phylogenetically distinct haplotypes. Investigation of gene families variably present across the strains identified several functional categories associated with metabolic and genome size variation in P. parvum, including genes for the biosynthesis of toxic metabolites and proliferation of transposable elements. Together, our results indicate that P. parvum comprises multiple cryptic species. These genomes provide a robust phylogenetic and genomic framework for investigations into the eco-physiological consequences of the intra- and inter-specific genetic variation present in P. parvum and demonstrate the need for similar resources for other harmful algal-bloom-forming morphospecies.

The coupling between irradiance, growth, photosynthesis and prymnesin cell quota and production in two strains of the bloom-forming haptophyte, Prymnesium parvum

Prymnesium parvum causes harmful algal blooms worldwide that are often associated with massive fish-kills and subsequent economic losses. Most of our knowledge of the toxicity of P. parvum derives from bioassays since methods for the identification and quantification of their toxins have been lacking. Recently, a quantitation method was developed for the causative lytic toxins, the prymnesins. Here, we for the first time present data on the influence of irradiance on cellular content and production of prymnesins under nutrient replete conditions in two P. parvum strains, which both produce B-type prymnesins. Large differences were observed between the two strains with regard to the influence of irradiance on prymnesin cell quota and production rates. At the highest irradiance level (550 µmol photons m-2 s-1), the cellular prymnesin quota was thirty times higher in strain K-0081 strain than in K-0374. The cellular prymnesin quota and production rates were closely linked to rates of growth and photosynthesis in strain K-0081, while this was not the case for K-0374. Yet, growth rate did explain the differences in prymnesin quota in the two strains. Consequently, the maximum prymnesin production rate (414 attomol cell-1 d-1) was only about three times higher in strain K-0081 than in K-0374, and revealed an optimum at the same irradiance of 200 µmol photons m-2 s-1 in both strains. At low irradiance levels, the difference in production rates between both strains became smaller, with 41 and 49 attomol cell-1 d-1 for K-0081 and K-0374, respectively. The carbon content of prymnesins made up for ∼3% and <1% of the total cellular carbon content in strains K-0081 and K-0374, respectively. The fraction of extracellular dissolved prymnesins was measured for strain K-0081, where it accounted for 14-30% of total prymnesin concentration in the cultures, irrespective of irradiance. The concentrations of prymnesins released to the water by the K-0081 strain were not significantly influenced by irradiance. Overall, we observed comparable responses in growth and photosynthesis of both tested strains toward changes in irradiance. However, the effects of irradiance on prymnesin quota and production rates were remarkably different between the two strains.

Gill Transcriptomic Responses to Toxin-producing Alga Prymnesium parvum in Rainbow Trout

The gill of teleost fish is a multifunctional organ involved in many physiological processes, including protection of the mucosal gill surface against pathogens and other environmental antigens by the gill-associated lymphoid tissue (GIALT). Climate change associated phenomena, such as increasing frequency and magnitude of harmful algal blooms (HABs) put extra strain on gill function, contributing to enhanced fish mortality and fish kills. However, the molecular basis of the HAB-induced gill injury remains largely unknown due to the lack of high-throughput transcriptomic studies performed on teleost fish in laboratory conditions. We used juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to investigate the transcriptomic responses of the gill tissue to two (high and low) sublethal densities of the toxin-producing alga Prymnesium parvum, in relation to non-exposed control fish. The exposure time to P. parvum (4–5 h) was sufficient to identify three different phenotypic responses among the exposed fish, enabling us to focus on the common gill transcriptomic responses to P. parvum that were independent of dose and phenotype. The inspection of common differentially expressed genes (DEGs), canonical pathways, upstream regulators and downstream effects pointed towards P. parvum-induced inflammatory response and gill inflammation driven by alterations of Acute Phase Response Signalling, IL-6 Signalling, IL-10 Signalling, Role of PKR in Interferon Induction and Antiviral Response, IL-8 Signalling and IL-17 Signalling pathways. While we could not determine if the inferred gill inflammation was progressing or resolving, our study clearly suggests that P. parvum blooms may contribute to the serious gill disorders in fish. By providing insights into the gill transcriptomic responses to toxin-producing P. parvum in teleost fish, our research opens new avenues for investigating how to monitor and mitigate toxicity of HABs before they become lethal.

Polyketide synthase genes and molecular trade-offs in the ichthyotoxic species Prymnesium parvum

Prymnesium parvum is a bloom forming haptophyte that has been responsible for numerous fish kill events across the world. The toxicity of P. parvum has been attributed to the production of large polyketide compounds, collectively called prymnesins, which based on their structure can be divided into A-, B- and C-type. The polyketide chemical nature of prymnesins indicates the potential involvement of polyketide synthases (PKSs) in their biosynthesis. However, little is known about the presence of PKSs in P. parvum as well as the potential molecular trade-offs of toxin biosynthesis. In the current study, we generated and analyzed the transcriptomes of nine P. parvum strains that produce different toxin types and have various cellular toxin contents. Numerous type I PKSs, ranging from 37 to 109, were found among the strains. Larger modular type I PKSs were mainly retrieved from strains with high cellular toxin levels and eight consensus transcripts were present in all nine strains. Gene expression variance analysis revealed potential molecular trade-offs associated with cellular toxin quantity, showing that basic metabolic processes seem to correlate negatively with cellular toxin content. These findings point towards the presence of metabolic costs for maintaining high cellular toxin quantity. The detailed analysis of PKSs in P. parvum is the first step towards better understanding the molecular basis of the biosynthesis of prymnesins and contributes to the development of molecular tools for efficient monitoring of future blooms.