Morphological and Molecular Identification of Brown Algae, Padina sp. In Lengeh Port, Persian Gulf

Abstract

Brown algae, Padina sp., are found across tropical coastal areas as well as inter-tidal and sub-tidal regions. The aim of this research was to identify the morphological and molecular characteristics of the Padina species distributed across Port Lengeh in the Persian Gulf using morphological examinations and rbcL chloroplast gene sequencing. For this purpose, morphological features were undertaken using valid identification keys. For the molecular analysis, genomic DNA was extracted through slightly modified CTAB. The amplification of fragments was carried out using rbcL primers. The analysis of genome sequences was undertaken using Chromas, BioEdit and MEGA6 and the phylogenetic trees were constructed through Neighbor Joining (NJ) and Maximum Likelihood (ML). The results indicated that there was a 99% chance that the two identified Padina species (P. boergessenii and P. australis) belonged to the same cluster and that there were large genetic similarities among the compared Padina species registered in GenBank.