Molecular Identification of Gyrodinium impudicum and Gymnodinium sanguineum by Comparing the Sequences of the Internal Transcribed Spacers 1, 2 and 5.8S Ribosomal DNA

The sequences coding for the 5.8S rDNA and the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS 2) from the isolates of nine isolates of Gyrodinium impudicum and two isolates of Gymnodinium sanguineum species were amplified, sequenced and compared with the previously known Alexandrium species and Gymnodinium catenatum. The genetic distance analyses based on the sequence alignment indicated that Gymnodinium catenatum and Gyrodinium impudicum species were some related, Alexandrium species was distant. G. catenatum and G. sanguineum were quite separate, but these two species belonged to the same genus. G. impudicum and G. catenatum forming the closet cluster showed some variation in the alignment of ITS regions. The length of ITS1 varied more than that of ITS2 and the length of ITS1 and ITS2 was different for each G. impudicum, Gymnodinium and Alexandrium species. Also, the length of ITS1 was shorter than that of ITS2. However, on the sequences of G. sanguineum, the length of ITS1 was longer about 23 nucleotides than that of ITS2. The phylogenetic analysis and rDNA similarity of G. impudicum and G. catenatum is higher than the that of G. catenatum and G. sanguineum . It was thought that the phylogenetic analysis and the genetic distance revealed that G. impudicum and G. catenatum were clearly different species and G. impudicum may belong to the genus of Gymnodinium.