De novo transcriptome of the non-saxitoxin producing Alexandrium tamutum reveals new insights on harmful dinoflagellates

Many dinoflagellates species, especially of the Alexandrium genus, produce a series of toxins with tremendous impacts on human and environmental health, as well as economies. We present the full-transcriptome of the dinoflagellate A. tamutum in both control and phosphate starvation conditions. Phosphate starvation was selected because known to induce toxin production for other Alexandrium spp. RNA-seq data were used for in silico identification of transcripts that can be involved in the synthesis of toxic compounds. Results gave new insights on toxic microalgae, toxin production and environmental monitoring.