Morphological and 18S rRNA analysis of coccoid green algae isolated from lakes of Kızılırmak Delta

Abstract

Molecular techniques are used today in many areas and have increased the confi dence level of studies. Th e aim of the study was to compare the classical morphological characters of coccoid green algae under fi eld and culture conditions by using modern molecular analysis. To achieve this aim, we fi rst isolated the coccoid green algae from Liman and Cernek lakes. Th e morphological variations of green algae were observed under culture conditions and the phylogenetic relationships of these strains were defi ned according to the 18S rRNA gene sequences. According to sequence analysis, 2 of the isolated species had high similarity to Scenedesmus subspicatus (98%) and Desmodesmus sp. (100%).