Anucleated cryptophyte vestiges in the gonyaulacalean dinoflagellates Amylax buxus and Amylax triacantha (Dinophyceae)

Cryptophyte vestiges showing selective digestion of nuclei were found in the gonyaulacalean dinoflagellates Amylax buxus (Balech) Dodge and Amylax triacantha (Jorgensen) Sournia. They emitted bright yellow-orange fluorescence (590-nm emission) under epifluorescent microscopy and possessed U-shaped plastids, suggesting the vestiges were active in photosynthesis. Under transmission electron microscopy, the plastid was characterized by a loose arrangement of two to three thylakoid stacks and included a stalked pyrenoid, as in the cryptophyte genus Teleaulax. Indeed, molecular data based on the plastid small-subunit rRNA gene demonstrated that the vestiges in Amylax originated from Teleaulax amphioxeia. The stolen plastid (kleptoplastids) in Dinophysis is also derived from this cryptophyte species. However, in sharp contrast to Dinophysis, the plastid of the vestige in Amylax was surrounded by a double layer of plastid endoplasmic reticulum, and within the periplastidal area, a nucleomorph was retained. The vestiges also possessed mitochondria with characteristic plate-like cristae, but lost the cell-surface structure. The phagocytotic membrane of the dinoflagellates seemed to surround the cryptophytes right after the incorporation, but the membrane itself would probably be digested eventually. Remarkably, only one cryptophyte cell among 14 vestiges in a cell of A. buxus had a nucleus. This is the first recording of possible kleptoplastidy in gonyaulacalean dinoflagellates, and documents the strategy of a dinoflagellate involving the selective elimination of the cryptophyte nucleus.