Cladophora goensis sp. nov. (Cladophorales, Ulvophyceae) –a bloom forming marine algae from Goa, India

1874-1879A new species of green seaweed, Cladophora goensis sp. nov. (Cladophorales, Ulvophyceae), had been discovered from Vasco-da-Gamma, Goa, India. This species formed algal bloom of moderate intensity in the Bay of Mormugao, on the west coast of India. Observations suggest combination of a number of morphological characteristics of this alga distinct from previously described members of this genus, including parietal chloroplast surrounding central hollow and bilenticular pyrenoids. Molecular sequence data at Nuclear ribosomal DNA Internal Transcribed Spacer-1 and 2 (ITS1 and ITS2) regions along with intervening 5.8S rRNA indicated Kimura-2-Parameter (T3P) pair-wise distance of 1.77 x 10-1 between this species and the nearest phylogenetic accession of Cladophora glomerata. In phylogenetic reconstructions using Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood, this species was not part of any monophyletic clades comprising any of the previously described species of this genus at the locus studied, thereby ascertaining conformity with phylogenetic species concept. With this discovery, a new phylogenetically primitive morphological synapomorphy of “pseudo dichotomous profuse branching” has been revealed for cladophoralean algae, and this is the single most important morphological characteristic of this bloom- forming seaweed

Phylogenetic position of tubular <i>Ulva</i> isolates from India among other accessions in ITS dataset using Neighbor-Joining Inference phylogenetic reconstruction (total tree length = 0.79153595) with T3P model of molecular evolution with gamma distribution (T3P+G).

<p>Numbers near nodes represent bootstrap support (100 replicates), exceeding 50. This phylogram is rooted with <i>Blidingia minima</i> as outgroup. Scale bar given on bottom is in the units of average nucleotide substitutions per site.</p

Phylogenetic position of tubular <i>Ulva</i> isolates from India among other tubular <i>Ulva</i> accessions in ITS dataset using Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic reconstruction (LnL = −2412.46) with T3P model of molecular evolution with gamma distribution (T3P+G).

<p>Numbers near nodes represent bootstrap support (1000 replicates), exceeding 50. This phylogram is rooted with <i>Ulva prolifera</i> as outgroup. Scale bar given on bottom is in the units of average nucleotide substitutions per site.</p

Collected samples of tubular <i>Ulva</i> from algal bloom across West Coast of India.

<p>Collected samples of tubular <i>Ulva</i> from algal bloom across West Coast of India.</p

Morphology of tubular <i>Ulva</i> from India.

<p>A–D ANJ Isolate, E–H KAR isolate, I–L KUN isolate, M-P MAN isolate, Q–T KAN Isolate and U–X PON Isolate. <i>Arrowheads</i> in M and U indicate flat portions of thalli, J indicate branching pattern and D, H, L, P, T and X indicate pyrenoids. Scale bars are 2 mm for A, E, I, M, Q and U; 200 µm for B, F, J, N, R and V; 100 µm for C, G, K, O, S and W; and 50 µm for D, H, L, P, T and X.</p

Strong Endemism of Bloom-Forming Tubular <i>Ulva</i> in Indian West Coast, with Description of <i>Ulva paschima</i> Sp. Nov. (Ulvales, Chlorophyta)

<div><p><i>Ulva intestinalis</i> and <i>Ulva compressa</i> are two bloom-forming morphologically-cryptic species of green seaweeds widely accepted as cosmopolitan in distribution. Previous studies have shown that these are two distinct species that exhibit great morphological plasticity with changing seawater salinity. Here we present a phylogeographic assessment of tubular <i>Ulva</i> that we considered belonging to this complex collected from various marine and estuarine green-tide occurrences in a ca. 600 km stretch of the Indian west coast. Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference phylogenetic reconstructions using ITS nrDNA revealed strong endemism of Indian tubular <i>Ulva</i>, with none of the Indian isolates forming part of the already described phylogenetic clades of either <i>U. compressa</i> or <i>U. intestinalis</i>. Due to the straightforward conclusion that Indian isolates form a robust and distinct phylogenetic clade, a description of a new bloom-forming species, <i>Ulva paschima</i> Bast, is formally proposed. Our phylogenetic reconstructions using Neighbor-Joining method revealed evolutionary affinity of this new species with <i>Ulva flexuosa</i>. This is the first molecular assessment of <i>Ulva</i> from the Indian Subcontinent.</p></div

Morphological characters of Indian isolates in comparison with <i>Ulva intestinalis</i>, <i>Ulva compressa</i> and <i>Ulva flexuosa</i>[29], [30].

<p>Morphological characters of Indian isolates in comparison with <i>Ulva intestinalis</i>, <i>Ulva compressa</i> and <i>Ulva flexuosa</i><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0109295#pone.0109295-Gabrielson1" target="_blank">[29]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0109295#pone.0109295-Brodie1" target="_blank">[30]</a>.</p