Protistology 4 (3) 245-250 (2006)
Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships in five Porphyra species revealed by RAPD analysis
Man Kyu Huh 1, Bok Kyu Lee 2 and Hak Young Lee 2
1 Department of Molecular Biology, Dong-eui University, Busan, Korea
Summary
The genus Porphyra comprises red algae known as laver. They are distributed throughout
Asia and used as food in Korea and other countries. Five species of Porphyra (P. tenera,
P. yezoensis, P. seriata, P. suborbiculata and P. dentata) are regarded as ecologically and
economically important in Korea. We used random amplified polymorphic DNA
(RAPD) to investigate their genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships. The
analysis of ten primers revealed 97 loci, of which 70 were polymorphic (72.2%). P.
seriata had the highest genetic diversity (0.147), and P. dentata, the lowest one (0.059).
An indirect estimate of the number of migrants per generation (Nm = 0.212) indicated
that gene flow was very low among the populations studied. The classification of
Porphyra species based on the DNA markers does not fully coincide with the
classification based on morphology.
Key words: Porphyra, random amplified polymorphic DNA, phylogenetic relationships
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