Dinoflagellate Eyespot Types
Mona Hoppenrath and Juan F. Saldarriaga
Four types of eyespot types have been distinguished in Dinoflagellates. All eyespots are situated in the sulcal area close to the flagellar roots where they are likely to be shadowed by the proximal part of the longitudinal flagellum.
- Type 1: In many dinoflagellates the eyespot consists of osmiophilic, carotene-containing globules inside the chloroplast, usually in a single or double layer between the plastid envelope and the outermost thylakoids.
- Type 2: An elongated vacuole containing brick-like vesicles, located in front of the eyespot but outside the plastid (e.g. Borghiella and Baldinia, Hansen et al. 2007, Moestrup et al. 2008). In suessialean dinoflagellates these brick-like vesicles form multiple layers
- Type 3: Osmiophilic globules not bounded by any membrane are floating free in the cytoplasm (e.g. Esoptrodinium, Jadwigia and Tovellia).
- Type 4: In diatomophore dinoflagellates (e.g., Durinskia, Kryptoperidinium, Galeidinium) osmiophilic granules are surrounded by three membranes, a situation that has given rise to the hypothesis that this organelle represents the remnant of the original peridinin-containing dino-chloroplast.
References
Hansen, G., N. Daugbjerg, and P. Henriksen. 2007. Baldinia anauniensis gen. et sp. nov.: a ‘new’ dinoflagellate from Lake Tovel, N. Italy. Phycologia 46:86-108.
Moestrup, Ø., G. Hansen, and N. Daugbjerg. 2008. Studies on woloszynskioid dinoflagellates. III: On the ultrastructure and phylogeny of Borghiella dodgei gen. et sp. nov., a cold-water species from Lake Tovel, N. Italy, and on B. tenuissima comb. nov. (syn. Woloszynskia tenuissima). Phycologia 47:54-78.
About This Page
Mona Hoppenrath
Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research, Wilhelmshaven, Germany
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Mona Hoppenrath at and Juan F. Saldarriaga at
Page copyright © 2008 Mona Hoppenrath and
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Dinoflagellate Eyespot Types
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