AFLP fingerprinting shows that a single Prymnesium parvum harmful algal bloom consists of multiple clones.

Due to slow rates of molecular evolution, DNA sequences used to identify and build phylogenies of algal species involved in harmful algal blooms (HABs) are generally invariant at the intraspecific level. This means that it is unknown whether HAB events result from the growth of a single clone, a few dominant clones, or multiple clones. This is true despite the fact that several physiological and demographic traits, as well as toxicity, are known to vary across clones. We generated AFLP fingerprints from a set of 6 clonal isolates, taken from a bloom of Prymnesium parvum at a striped bass mariculture facility. This new haptophyte bloom was recently implicated in fish kills at several sites in the United States. The AFLP fragments were highly reproducible and showed that all isolates were distinguishable due to abundant AFLPs unique to single isolates. These results demonstrate that blooms can be genetically diverse outbreaks and indicate that AFLP can be a powerful molecular tool for characterizing and monitoring this diversity.