A molecular assessment of red algae with reference to the utility of DNA barcoding

Abstract

The ecological and commercial importance of red algae is of high value, the estimated cost seaweed industry produces is US$10 billion. The species which are exploited most are the members of Rhodophyta (Eucheuma/Kappaphycus, Porphyra, and Gracilaria). In order to understand the distribution of seaweed, their identification is necessary which is generally based on morphological characteristics, often resulting in wrong identification of species. DNA barcoding can be used as a contemporary tool for species identification. It can resolve many intrinsic problems of morphological taxonomy, only a small amount of tissue is required for species identification, and the samples can be examined at all stages of development. The application of DNA barcoding can be used in the identification of invasive and endangered species along with conservation biology. In the case of red algae, DNA barcoding proved to be beneficial for the recognition of high-yielding agar strain as well as for cryptic species identification. In this study, several identification-based problems of red algae have been discussed by using different intraspecific markers such as cox1, cox3, and cox2-3 spacer and rbcL and rbcL-rbcS spacer. As per the available data, the mitochondrial marker gene cox1 is more effective than rbcL for the measurement of red algal genetic diversity.