Diverse algicidal bacteria associated with harmful bloom-forming Karenia mikimotoi in estuarine soil and seawater

Abstract Algicidal bacteria associated with Karenia mikimotoi have been isolated, yet the distribution of the algicidal bacteria has been rarely studied. Here, we postulated and demonstrated that terrestrial environment harbors diverse algicidal bacteria, which can survive in seawater along water flowing into marine and suppress Karenia mikimotoi . In summary, 9 and 5 bacteria with algicidal activity on Karenia mikimotoi were isolated from seawater and estuarine soil, respectively. Similar with the marine bacteria ( Alteromonas sp., Halomonas sp., Marinobacter sp., Paracoccus sp., Rhodobacteraceae , Idiomarina sp.), the soil strains ( Pseudoalteromonas sp. and Flavobaterium sp.) showed high mortality in Karenia mikimotoi with the inhibitory rate of 87% and 93.5%, respectively, after two days co-cultivation. Algicidal activity of the two strains was detected in the cell-free filtrate not in bacterial cells. The results suggest that algicidal bacteria associated with Karenia mikimotoi widely exist in terrestrial and marine environments, and have application potential on controlling Karenia mikimotoi .