Abstract

Partial sequences of 16S rRNA gene of five chroococcalian blue-green algal strains, Aphanothece nidulans KCTC AG10041, Aphanothece naegelii KCTC AG10042, Microcystis aeruginosa KCTC AG10159, Microcystis ichthyoblabe KCTC AG10160, and Microcystis viridis KCTC AG10198, which were isolated from water from the Geumgang River, were determined and were inferred their phylogenetic and taxonomic positions among taxa of order Chroococcales. Most taxa of Chroococcales whose partial 16S rRNA gene sequences were aligned in this study, are clustered with other related taxa. Aphanothece nidulans KCTC AG10041 and Aphanothece naegelii KCTC AG10042 made a cluster with other European species of these genera, which supported 100% of the bootstrap trees with a very high sequence similarity (97.4-99.4%) in this study. Three strains, Microcystis aeruginosa KCTC AG10159, M. ichthyoblabe KCTC AG10160, and M. viridis KCTC AG10198, formed a cluster with other Microcystis spp. supported 100 % of the bootstrap trees with a similarity of 97.0-99.9% except for two strains. However, this phylogentic tree made no resolution among the species of Microcystis spp. The topology of the tree reconfirmed the taxonomic status of three species of Microcystis, identified in this study based on the morphology, as three colonial types of Microcystis aeruginosa com. nov. Otsuka et al. (1999c). The genera of chroococcalian cyanophytes are heterogeneously clustered in these sequence analyses. We suggest that more molecular studies on the genera of Chroococcales with reference strains, widely collected from restricted geographic or environmental ranges, get accurate taxonomic or phylogenetic determinations.

• Keywords: 16S rRNA; phylogeny; blue-green algae; Cyanophyta; Cyanobacteria; Chroococcales