Morphological Characters and Molecular Analysis of Some Endolithic Green Algae

Abstract

Morphological and molecular (ITS and TufA nuclear DNA) analysis was carried out on some endolithic green algal strains to examine their relationship and boring activity. Using the BLAST, the closest relative to most of the studied strains was the Acrochaete (= Ulvella) sp. Phylogentic tree, maximum likelihood was used to compare study strains and some unpublished sequences obtained from O’Kelly Laboratory. It was observed from the maximum likelihood tree, that F442 and F446 strains have same evolutionary relationship which was supported by their similar morphological descriptions. The resulting clade of five (F190, F601, F646, F442/F446, F388/F408) sequences was distant from all other Ulvella sequences, suggesting a previously-unrecognized species group within Ulvella. Boring activity was not determined as the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) broke down during the study. Further research using several primers and phylogenetic trees analysis to confirm the appropriate identity of strains is recommended.