T. Oda et al., CATALASE-INDUCED AND SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASE-INDUCED MORPHOLOGICAL-CHANGES AND GROWTH-INHIBITION IN THE RED TIDE PHYTOPLANKTON CHATTONELLA-MARINA, Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry, 59(11), 1995, pp. 2044-2048
Chattonella is one of the most toxic red tide phytoplankton and causes
severe damage to fish farming, Recent studies demonstrated that Chatt
onella sp, generates superoxide and hydroxyl radicals, which may be re
sponsible for the toxicity of this plankton. However, little is known
about the mechanism of the production of oxygen radicals by Chattonell
a, and the role of oxygen radicals in Chattonella themselves is also u
nclear, In this study, we found that superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ca
talase inhibited the growth of Chattonella marina concomitant with the
ir morphological changes, In the presence of these enzymes, the shape
of vegetative C. marina cells changed from spindle to round, Furthermo
re, the generation of oxygen radicals by C. marina depended on the gro
wth phase; the rate of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide generation was
the highest during exponentially growing phase and subsequently decre
ased to one-fifth of the maximal level in the stationary growth phase,
These results suggest that oxygen radicals generated by C. marina pla
y an essential role in their own survival, especially in cell division
.