Organellar DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and nuclear random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analyses of morphotypes ofGracilaria(Gracilariales, Rhodophyta) from Chile

✍ Scribed by Mariela González; Rolando Montoya; Arturo Candia; Patricia Gómez; Manuel Cisternas

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 470 KB
• Volume: 326-327
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-5141
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00047812

✦ Synopsis

The extreme phenotypic variability recognized among the species of Gracilaria has highlighted the need for the application of refined methods to help solve taxa identifications . In Chile, there still exists uncertainty about the exact number of Gracilaria species . Our investigations are centered on DNA analyses of morphotypes collected from different geographical locations, namely Lenga and Isla Santa Maria, Region VIII (36°00' S to 38°00' S), and Maullin, Region X (39°30' S to 43°40' S) . These two regions of Chile are considered as areas of confluence of G. chilensis, G. verrucosa, and a species of Gracilariopsis . In this study four morphotypes, from a natural bed located in Maullfn, were analyzed for RFLP of plastid DNA and the results compared with data of four morphotypes from a bed in Lenga . The DNA banding patterns from each enzyme digest were identical irrespective of morphotypes and/or locations . In an attempt to unravel the nature of the morphological differences found among Lenga and Maullin morphotypes, RAPD analyses of nuclear DNA were also performed ; however, no polymorphism has been found yet. Therefore, the data of this study, as well as concurrent data from preliminary interfertility tests, suggest that all morphotypes belong to a single taxon, Gracilaria chilensis .