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Genetic diversity of the genus Ostreopsis Schmidt: phylogeographical considerations and molecular methodology applications for field detection in the Mediterranean Sea

Antonella PENNA, Santiago FRAGA, Cecilia BATTOCCHI, Silvia CASABIANCA, Federico PERINI, Samuela CAPELLACCI, Anna CASABIANCA, Pilar RIOBÓ, Maria Grazia GIACOBBE, Cecilia TOTTI, Stefano ACCORONI, Magda VILA, Albert REÑÉ, Michele SCARDI, Katerina ALIGIZAKI, Lam NGUYEN-NGOC & Cristiano VERNESI

en Cryptogamie, Algologie 33 (2) - Pages 153-163

Published on 25 May 2012

This study reports some recent phylogeographical considerations on the genus Ostreopsis distribution worldwide, with particular attention to the Mediterranean Sea, and new recent advances on the quali-quantitiative detection of Ostreopsis species along coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea based on the PCR and quantitative real time PCR (qrt-PCR) assays. It was found that O. cf. ovata is widely dispersed throughout tropical and warm temperate coastal areas. In the Atlantic/Mediterranean region it represents a panmictic population that is highly divergent from Indo-Pacific populations. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the developed qrt-PCR assay is specific, robust and high sample throughput for the quantification of the toxic O. cf. ovata in the environmental samples. This molecular approach may be considered alternative to traditional methods of microscopy and applied for the survey of benthic toxic microalgal species in marine ecosystems.


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