Isolation and axenic culture of Gymnodinium microadriaticum from Tridacna maxima

Abstract

A procedure is described for the isolation of Gymnodinium microadriaticum from Tridacna maxima. Electron microscopy of the freshly-isolated cells, and of cells maintained in axenic culture over a period of 6 months, showed that the cells retained their typical gymnodinioid structure, and that they were unaffected by growth under continuous light. Cultured cells had the same pigment composition as that of other dinoflagellates. The rate of net photosynthesis and the ratio of net photosynthesis to dark respiration was about four-times greater in the freshly-isolated cells than in the cultured cells.