Domoic Acid-Producing Diatoms of the Genus Pseudo-nitzschia H. Peragallo, 1900 (Bacillariophyta) from the North Pacific

Resumo

Information on diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia, known as producers of domoic acid (DA), from the North Pacific is summarized. The differences in the negative impact of toxic diatoms on ecosystems in the western and eastern North Pacific are shown. The possible causes that determine the degree of these different impacts are discussed: a different composition of dominant species; a difference in the intracellular DA concentration in bloom-forming species; the hydrological, climatic, and hydrochemical factors that are responsible for the formation of toxic blooms (upwelling events, patterns of water circulation, concentration of iron compounds in sea water, etc.). The conclusion is made that the prospects of further studies of toxic diatoms are based on comparative investigations into the species and genetic diversity of Pseudo-nitzschia and associated bacteria, as well as the environmental parameters that control the formation of toxic blooms and the accumulation of DA in microalgae and other marine organisms in the eastern and western North Pacific.