Research Article |
Corresponding author: Sung Min An ( sman@mabik.re.kr ) Academic editor: Bing Liu
© 2024 Sung Min An, Jihoon Kim, Kichul Cho, Hyun-Ju Hwang.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
An SM, Kim J, Cho K, Hwang H-J (2024) Halamphora hampyeongensis sp. nov. (Amphipleuraceae, Bacillariophyceae), a new marine benthic diatom from a tidal mudflat in Hampyeong Bay, South Korea. PhytoKeys 248: 59-71. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.248.135034
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The abundance and variety of benthic diatoms inhabiting tidal flats is widely acknowledged, although it has received relatively less attention than other research areas. In this investigation, we provide a formal description of a benthic diatom found in the tidal mudflat of South Korea, based on morphological and molecular characteristics and the similarities and differences between Halamphora hampyeongensis sp. nov., with morphologically similar Halamphora species are also discussed. Morphological characteristics are described from light and electron microscopy images. H. hampyeongensis is distinguished by its wide ventral sides of the valve, small and rounded areolae present across the whole valve face, and dense dorsal striae biseriate (34–38 in 10 μm). Phylogenetic analysis based on 18S rDNA and rbcL sequence data revealed that H. hampyeongensis is related to H. montana, H. mosensis, and H. specensa. The results (morphometric and molecular) provide sufficient elements to support and propose this taxon as a new species.
18S, morphology, new species, phylogeny, rbcL gene, taxonomy
Amphoroid diatoms, represented among other genus by Amphora Ehrenberg ex Kützing 1844 and Halamphora (Cleve) Mereschkowsky, 1903, are strongly dorsiventral raphid diatoms (
Since its recognition as a genus by
Ecologically, Halamphora species are known to prefer mostly inland conductive waters or coastal waters (
In the present study, we used light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to conduct morphological examinations on a novel Halamphora species that was isolated from a tidal mudflat in Hampyeong Bay, South Korea. We additionally performed molecular analysis of this species using 18S rDNA and rbcL gene, and a brief discussion has been included regarding these findings.
The Sediment sample was obtained from an intertidal mudflat located in Hampyeong Bay (35º01.89'N, 126º24.31'E) on the west coast of South Korea on July 19, 2018 (Fig.
A single cell was isolated using a capillary tube under an Eclipse Ti-U inverted microscope (Nikon, Tokyo, Japan) and transferred to a cell culture flask (SPL Life Sciences, Pocheon, South Korea) containing F/2 medium supplemented with silicate (Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA). The strains were periodically sub-cultured every 3–4 weeks and subjected to incubation at a temperature of 25 °C. The incubation was carried out under a light:dark cycle of 14:10 hours, with an irradiance of 40 μmol photons m-2 s-1.
For the purpose of conducting morphological analysis, a sample of the culture was obtained from the initial subculture and treated with a 5% Lugol’s solution for fixation. The cultured strain was treated acid treatment using sulfuric and hydrochloric acids to remove organic matter, following the modified
The 1.5 mL of culture strain was collected through centrifugation at a speed of 2,500 rpm for a duration of 5 minutes, and the supernatant was discarded. Genomic DNA extraction was performed using the DNeasy PowerSoil Pro Kit (Qiagen Inc., Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification was conducted using specific primer pairs. The primer pair Diatom9F (
PCR conditions and reactions were implemented as per the protocols of (
In LM, valves semi-elliptical with smoothly convex dorsal margin, nearly straight ventral margin and the valve ends narrowly rounded and slightly ventrally curved (Fig.
A–H Light microscopy photomicrographs of H. hampyeongensis I–P scanning electron microscopy photomicrographs of H. hampyeongensis I external valve view, with central area (asterisk) and dorsal raphe ledge (arrow) J internal view of a valve K detail of a valve externally showing siliceous outgrowths (arrows) on the margin of the raphe ledge, central area (asterisk), and proximal raphe endings (arrowheads) L detail of external valve apex showing the dorsally bent distal raphe ending (arrow) M biseriate striae (arrows) in several rows under the raphe ledge N detail of areolae on the dorsal side internally occluded by hymenes (arrows) and tongue-like proximal helictoglossae (double asterisk) O detail of internal valve apex showing poorly developed distal helictoglossae (arrow) P girdle bands with two rows of poroids (arrows). Scale bars: 10 μm (A–H); 5 μm (I, J); 1 μm (K–M, O, P); 0.5 μm (N).
In SEM, externally, the central area slightly expanded on the ventral side only (Fig.
Dorsal striae slightly radiate. Ventral striae are slightly radiate and more distantly spaced at the valve middle, becoming parallel to slightly convergent and denser near the valve apices (Fig.
Morphometric comparation of Halamphora hampyeongensis with related species. ND = not documented.
Halamphora hampyeongensis | H. atacamana | H. caribaea | H. exilis | H. montana | H. mosensis | H. specensa | |
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Valve shape | semi-elliptical, convex dorsal and nearly straight ventral margins | semi-lanceolate, arched dorsal and straight to weakly tumid ventral margins | semi-lanceolate, convex dorsal and straight ventral margins | narrowly semi-elliptical, shallowly arched dorsal and straight ventral margins | semi-lanceolate, smoothly arched dorsal and straight to slightly convex ventral margins | narrowly semi-elliptical, smoothly arched dorsal and straight ventral margins | semi-elliptical to nearly elliptical, arched to flattened dorsal and convex ventral margins |
Apices | narrowly rounded | slightly subprotracted | rostrate | narrowly rounded | broadly rounded | narrowly rounded | weakly protracted, narrowly rounded |
Length (μm) | 13.8–15.0 | 29–45 | 34–39 | 14–19 | 12–20 | 21–37 | 13–17 |
Width (μm) | 2.8–3.0 | 4.5–8.0 | 6.0–8.0 | 2.5–3.0 | 3.0–4.6 | 4.0–4.5 | 3.0–3.5 |
Raphe | arched | arched | straight with | slightly arched | arched | arched | straight |
Proximal raphe ends | slightly expanded, straight | slightly dorsally deflected | dorsally deflected | slightly dorsally deflected | slightly expanded, dorsally deflected | dorsally deflected | dorsally deflected |
Dorsal striae (in 10 μm) | 34–38 | 25–28 | 11–20 | 24–26 | 40–45 | 26–28 | 23–26 |
bi- and uniseriate | uniseriate | ND | bi- and uniseriate | uniseriate | bi- and multiseriate | biseriate | |
Ventral striae (in 10 μm) | 46–48 | 24–30 | 19–29 | 44–45 | 40–45 | 28 | 44–46 |
Habitate | brackish | brackish | marine | marine | freshwater | brackish | freshwater |
References | This study (n = 31) |
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Slide no. MABIK DI00043482 (represented by the valve shown in Fig.
SEM stub no. MABIK DI00043483 and cleaned material no. MABIK DI00043484 (preserved in 99% ethanol).
The intertidal mudflat located in Hampyeong Bay (35°01.89'N, 126°24.31'E), Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do, South Korea (site: HP1-3), July 19, 2018.
The specific epithet “hampyeongensis” refers to the type locality, Hampyeong Bay, Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do, South Korea.
Halamphora hampyeongensis is a benthic species currently known only from the type locality. The sediment temperature and salinity of pore water in the sediment at the time of sampling were measured to be 27.8 °C and 24.9 psu, respectively.
The nucleotide sequences were deposited in GenBank under accession numbers OQ642108 (18S rDNA) and ON137728 (rbcL gene).
The lengths of the 18S rDNA and rbcL gene sequences were determined in this study for Halamphora hampyeongensis were 1,649 bp and 1,424 bp, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between H. hampyeongensis and the amphoroid diatom species retrieved from GenBank using ML and BI methods (Fig.
A molecular phylogenetic tree obtained from ML and BI analysis based on the concatenated dataset (18S rDNA and rbcL gene) showing the phylogenetic positions of H. hampyeongensis. A phylogenetic tree was generated through a ML analysis. The values on each node indicate ML bootstrap and Bayesian posterior probabilities, respectively. The asterisk indicates 100 in ML and 1 in BI, and – indicates the topological incongruence between ML and BI trees. The H. hampyeongensis is highlighted in bold blue.
Halamphora hampyeongensis sp. nov. displayed typical morphological characteristics associated with the Amphoroid as observed through microscopic examination (Fig.
As a result of phylogenetic analysis, this species was found to be related to Halamphora Clade Hal_H, which consists of species like H. exilis J.G.Stepanek & Kociolek, H. mosensis J.G.Stepanek & Kociolek, H. specensa J.G.Stepanek & Kociolek, H. maritima J.G.Stepanek & Kociolek and H. nipponensis J.G.Stepanek, S.Mayama & Kociolek as described by
Based on the aforementioned information, we propose a novel taxon found in the mudflats as a new species belonging to the genus Halamphora, named H. hampyeongensis. While benthic diatoms are the predominant organisms in benthic ecosystems of tidal flats and are recognized for their high diversity (
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
No ethical statement was reported.
This research was supported by the development of useful materials derived from marine microorganisms and microalgae (2024M00600) funded by the National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea (MABIK).
Conceptualization: SMA. Methodology, SMA, KC. Investigation: SMA, JK. Resources: JK. Writing – original draft: SMA. Writing – review and editing, KC, HJH. Project administration: HJH. Funding acquisition: HJH.
Sung Min An https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9180-309X
Jihoon Kim https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6363-6514
Kichul Cho https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0685-0490
Hyun-Ju Hwang https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4608-7021
All of the data that support the findings of this study are available in the main text or Supplementary Information.
GenBank accession numbers for the amphoroid species included in the phylogenetic analyses
Data type: docx
Supplementary data
Data type: fas