Phytochemical variation and genetic diversity of G. corticata and K. alvarezii from different environment

Abstract

Due to wide range of secondary metabolites and its therapeutic properties, seaweeds have become natural alternative to the chemical based compounds. This project focuses on phytochemical evaluation and genetic diversity within seaweeds collected from different environment. Seaweeds samples of Gracilaria corticata and Kappaphycus alvarezii were collected from the Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari. These samples were subjected to phytochemical screening and found positive for anthraquinones, flavinoids, lignin and saponins. DNA was isolated by modified cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) method and analyzed by Nanodrop spectrophotometer and agarose gel electrophoresis. Ten primers OPU 6- OPU15 were used for RAPD-PCR, out of which four primers generated highly reproducible and clear polymorphic bands. These four primers generated a total of 94 bands. The size of amplified products ranged from 100 bp to 2000 bp. As expected, individuals from same genus were clustered together in the dendrogram. The present study elaborates the bioactive content of seaweeds from different environment and demonstrates the effective application of RAPD technique for analyzing the genetic differentiation.