V. Y. Thien , W. T. L. Yong , G. J. W. L. Chin

Biotechnology Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2016, Vol. 6, No. 33   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2016.06.0033
Received: 09 Jul., 2016    Accepted: 12 Sep., 2016    Published: 18 Sep., 2016

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Thien V.Y., Yong W.T.L. and Chin G.J.W.L., 2016, Morphological and Molecular Studies of Undescribed Kappaphycus Species, International Journal of Marine Science, 6(33): 1-7 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2016.06.0033)

Morphological and molecular studies were carried on an undescribed species of Kappaphycus (AS 12) from Sabah, Malaysia. The species displays unique and different physical characters from Kappaphycus alvarezii, K. striatus, K. malesianus and Eucheuma denticulatum in terms of branching patterns, thalli texture and colors. The phylogenetic position of this plant was inferred by cox2-3 spacer, intergenic transcribed spacer (ITS) region and RuBisCo spacer. Based on the results from this study, it is clear that the specimen AS 12 pointed to significant differences from K. alvarezii, K. striatus, K. malesianus and E. denticulatum as supported by both morphological and molecular analyses.

cox2-3 spacer; Eucheuma; ITS region; Kappaphycus; RuBisCo spacer