Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

SYSTEMATICS OF THE GRACILARIACEAE (RHODOPHYTA) BASED ON RBCL SEQUENCE ANALYSES WITH EMPHASIS ON THE SOUTHERN COAST OF IRAN

D. Mirzabagheri, Sh. Hajihashemi, M.R. Yavarzadeh, H. Sepehri, M. Abaszadeh, M. Mostafaiee and A. Soltani

Abstract

In the present study phylogenetic consepts of 49 species (76 sequence accessions) representing 42 species of Gracilaria , 3 species of Gracilariopsis and as outgroups 2 species of Hypnea , 1 species of Sarconema and 1 species of Soleria wereevaluated based on maximum parsimony and neighbor joining analysis of chloroplast- encoded rbcL and rbcS genes and rbcL-rbcS space region ( spacer ). The results identified Iranian Gracilaria species situate in 4 clades (5 species in Gracilaria sensu stricto and 2 species in Hydropontia). Molecular data confirmed accuracy of recognition of Gracilaria corticata, Gracilaria arcuata, Gracilaria salicornia and Gracilaria textorii. According to phylogenic analysis name of “Gracilaria armata” changed to “Gracilaria arcuata” and it is necessary to review the name of Gracilaria canaliculata, which is introduced from Iran. Upon the results, Iranian Gracilaria sp. is a close species to Gracilaria canaliculata. The molecular study on different population of Gracilaria corticata showed that despite of small difference in morphologic aspect, they are similar from molecular aspect and found in the monophyletic clade.