The biological processes involved in the preservation, viability, and revival of long‐term dormant dinoflagellate cysts buried in sediments remain unknown. Based on studies of plant seed physiology, we tested whether the revival of ancient cysts preserved in century‐old sediments from the Bay of Brest (France) could be stimulated by melatonin and gibberellic acid, two molecules commonly used in seed priming. Dinoflagellates were revived from sediments dated to approximately 150 years ago (156 ± 27, 32 cm depth), extending the known record age of cyst viability previously established as around one century. A culture suspension of sediments mixed with melatonin and gibberellic acid solutions as biostimulants exhibited germination of 11 dinoflagellate taxa that could not be revived under controlled culture conditions. The biostimulants revived some dinoflagellates from century‐old sediments, including the potentially toxic species Alexandrium minutum. The biostimulants showed positive effects on germination on even more ancient cysts, showing dose‐dependent effects on the germination of Scrippsiella acuminata. Concentrations of 1, 10, and 100 µM melatonin and gibberellic acid promoted germination. In contrast, 1,000 µM solutions, particularly for melatonin, drastically decreased germination, suggesting a potential noxious effect of high doses of these molecules on dinoflagellate revival. Our findings suggest that melatonin and gibberellic acid are involved in the stimulation of germination of dinoflagellate cysts. These biostimulants can be used to germinate long‐term stored dinoflagellate cysts, which may promote studies of ancient strains in the resurrection ecology research field.

中文翻译：

---

使用分子生物刺激复兴古代海洋恐龙。

埋藏在沉积物中的长期休眠的鞭毛藻囊肿的保存，存活和恢复的生物学过程仍然未知。在植物种子生理学研究的基础上，我们测试了褪黑素和赤霉素（两种通常用于种子引发的分子）是否能刺激布雷斯特湾（法国）百年沉积物中保存的古老囊肿的复兴。鞭毛藻是从大约150年前（156±27，深32厘米）的沉积物中恢复出来的，从而延长了已知的囊肿生存力的已知记录年龄，大约在一个世纪之前。含有褪黑素和赤霉素溶液作为生物刺激剂的沉积物的培养悬浮液显示出11种鞭毛类生物群的萌发状态，在受控培养条件下无法恢复。小亚历山大草。生物刺激剂甚至在更古老的囊肿上对发芽也表现出积极的作用，对尖孢镰刀菌的发芽表现出剂量依赖性。浓度为1、10和100 µM的褪黑素和赤霉素可促进发芽。相反，1,000 µM溶液（尤其是褪黑激素溶液）会大大降低发芽率，这表明高剂量这些分子可能会对鞭毛藻的复兴产生有害影响。我们的发现表明褪黑素和赤霉素与刺激鞭毛囊藻的发芽有关。这些生物刺激剂可用于发芽长期储存的鞭毛藻囊肿，这可能会促进复活生态学研究领域中的古老菌株的研究。