The marine dinoflagellate Azadinium poporum produce azaspiracids (AZA) and has been recorded widely in the world. However, information on its biogeography is still limited, especially in view of the fact that A. poporum comprises several genetically differentiated groups. A total of 18 strains of A. poporum were obtained from the Eastern Mediterranean area by incubating surface sediment collected from Ionian Sea of Greece. The morphology of these strains was examined with light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA), large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU rDNA) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences were obtained from all cultured strains. Molecular phylogeny based on concatenated SSU, LSU and ITS sequences confirmed three ribotypes within A. poporum and revealed two subclades within ribotypes A and C. Greek strains of A. poporum ribotype A were nested within ribotype A2 together with strains from Western Mediterranean Sea and French Atlantic, and Greek strains of A. poporum ribotype C were nested within ribotype C2 together with a strain from the Gulf of Mexico. Growth experiments on four selected strains revealed that ribotypes A and C from Greece differed in their growth at higher temperatures, indicating that they are physiologically differentiated. Azaspiracid profiles were analyzed for 15 cultured A. poporum strains using LCMS/MS and demonstrate that the A. poporum ribotype A from Greece produce low level or no AZA and A. poporum ribotype C from Greece produces predominantly AZA-40 (9.6–30.2 fg cell⁻¹) followed by AZA-2 (2.1–2.6 fg cell⁻¹). The first record of AZA-40 producing A. poporum from the Mediterranean suggests that this species is a potential source for azaspiracid contaminations in shellfish from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

海洋的鞭毛藻（Anodidelellate Azadinium poporum）会产生氮杂螺菌酸（azaspiracids， AZA），并且在世界上已有广泛的记录。但是，关于其生物地理学的信息仍然有限，特别是鉴于A. poporum包含几个遗传分化的群体这一事实。共有18株A. poporum通过孵化从希腊爱奥尼亚海收集的地表沉积物从地中海东部地区获得。用光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜检查这些菌株的形态。从所有培养菌株中获得了小亚基核糖体DNA（SSU rDNA），大亚基核糖体DNA（LSU rDNA）和内部转录间隔区（ITS）序列。基于级联SSU，LSU和ITS序列分子系统发育证实在三个核糖型A. poporum和核糖型A内揭示了两个亚类型和C.希腊株A. poporum核糖型A中嵌套核糖型A2内从西地中海和法国一起株大西洋和希腊菌株的A. poporumC型核糖与来自墨西哥湾的菌株一起被嵌套在C2型核内。在四种选定菌株上进行的生长实验表明，来自希腊的A和C型核糖在较高温度下的生长差异，表明它们在生理上是分化的。使用LC MS / MS分析了15种培养的A. poporum菌株的氮杂螺菌酸谱，证明来自希腊的A. poporum核糖型A产生水平低或没有AZA，来自希腊的A. poporum C核糖型C主要产生AZA-40（9.6-30.2 fg cell ^-1），然后是AZA-2（2.1–2.6 fg cell ^-1）。生产AZA poporum的AZA-40的第一记录 来自地中海的证据表明，该物种是东地中海贝类中氮杂螺菌酸污染的潜在来源。