Molecular diversity of Enteromorpha from the coast of Yantai: a dual-marker assessment

Abstract

We collected nine Enteromorpha specimens from the coast of Yantai and evaluated their diversity based on analyses of their ITS (internal transcribed spacer) and 5S rDNA NTS (non-transcribed spacer) sequences. The ITS sequences showed slight nucleotide divergences between Enteromorpha linza and Enteromorpha prolifera. In contrast, multiple highly variable regions were found in the ITS region of Enteromorpha flexuosa. In general, there were more variable sites in the NTS region than in the ITS region in the three species. The variations in 5S rDNA NTS sequences indicated that the molecular diversity of Enteromorpha from the coast of Yantai is very high. However, a phylogenetic tree constructed using 5S rDNA NTS sequence data indicated that genetic differences were not directly related to geographical distribution.