Life cycle, size reduction patterns, and ultrastructure of the pennate planktonic diatom Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima (Bacillariophyceae)

Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima (Cleve) Heiden is a very common pennate planktonic diatom found in temperate marine waters, where it is often responsible for blooms. Recently, three distinct internal transcribed spacer types have been recorded during a P. delicatissima bloom in the Gulf of Naples (Mediterranean Sea, Italy), which suggests the existence of cryptic diversity. We carried out mating experiments with clonal strains belonging to the most abundant internal transcribed spacer type. Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima is heterothallic and produces two functional anisogametes per gametangium. The elongated auxospore possesses a transverse and a longitudinal perizonium. The sexual phase was observed to occur over a wide size spectrum, spanning 19-80 mu m and corresponding to almost the whole range of cell length observed for P. delicatissima. We also investigated cell morphology, valve ultrastructure and morphometry of parental, F1-generation strains, and the progeny of crosses between parental and F1 strains. Although ultrastructural features match those described for P. delicatissima, variability in cell shape was recorded in the largest cells of the F1 generation as well as in valves with an abnormal arrangement of poroids. As many other diatoms, P. delicatissima undergoes size reduction over its life cycle, and cells of different size showed differences in growth rates and the amount of size reduction per cell cycle. Cells between 60 and 30 mu m in length showed the fastest growth and the slowest rates of size reduction per generation. In culture, P. delicatissima cells can decrease to 8 mu m in length; however, such small cells (<= 30 mu m) are not recorded in the sea, and this raises interesting questions about the factors that control their survival in the natural environment.