Diversity of Gelidiales (Rhodophyta) in Brazil, with emphasis on the northeastern region based on morphology and DNA barcodes

• Grant number: 13/03105-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Plant Taxonomy
• Principal Investigator: Mutue Toyota Fujii
• Grantee: Mayra Jamas
• Host Institution: Instituto de Botânica. Secretaria de Meio Ambiente, Infraestrutura e Logística (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The order Gelidiales is monophyletic, included in the class Florideophyceae. Gelidiales comprises about 140 species widely distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate seas. Many representatives of this order are economically important as source of agar-agar. Morphological characters as carposporophyte development, arrangement of tetrasporangia, presence and distribution pattern of the rizines in the thalli, arrangement of cortical cells, architectural pattern of the apex, structure and type of the fixation are traditionally used to delimit the species and genera in Gelidiales. However, these criteria have been inconsistent for the taxonomy, and some species have a high morphological variability, allied to difficulty to find fertile specimens, mainly gametophytic. Although Geidiales has been investigated for the DNA barcoding purpose using short sequences of plastidial and mitochondrial DNA to identify taxa occurring in the São Paulo state, many gaps in our understanding of the taxonomy remain. Within this context, this project will expand the sampling sites in Brazil, with emphasis on the northeastern coast and places considered biogeographical barriers for other marine organisms, such as environments under the influence of upwelling or injection of large volumes of freshwater. This project aims to demonstrate the relevance of taxonomic study integrating molecular data, morphological and geographical distribution to document biodiversity. Molecular markers selected for this project are: UPA (Universal Plastid Amplicon) and COI 5P or COX1 (mitochondrial gene coding for cytochrome c oxidase I), with the purpose of "DNA barcoding". The combined analysis of morphological data, molecular geographical distribution will also know the phenotypic plasticity of the taxa identified from different environments where they grow. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

IHA, CINTIA; JAMAS, MAYRA; GUIMARAES, SILVIA M. P. B.; FUJII, MUTUE T.; FRESHWATER, D. WILSON; OLIVEIRA, MARIANA C.. Pterocladiella (Gelidiales, Rhodophyta) species of Brazil including morphological studies of Pterocladiella media and a reassessment of Pterocladiella taylorii. PHYCOLOGIA, v. 56, n. 6, p. 624-637, 2017. (12/18775-6, 12/03592-3, 13/11833-3, 11/04224-5, 13/03105-8)

JAMAS, MAYRA; IHA, CINTIA; OLIVEIRA, MARIANA C.; GUIMARAES, SILVIA M. P. B.; FUJII, MUTUE T.. Morphological and molecular studies on Gelidiaceae and Gelidiellaceae (Gelidiales, Rhodophyta) from Brazil with description of the new species Gelidium calidum. PHYTOTAXA, v. 314, n. 2, p. 195-218, JUL 25 2017. (11/04224-5, 12/18775-6, 13/03105-8, 13/11833-3)