Molecular Identification of Caulerpa selago as a New Record for the Persian Gulf

Caulerpa is a genus of siphonous green algae belonging to Caulerpaceae which consists of about 103 accepted species of tropical to subtropical seas. Recently, some species of the genus have expanded their distribution into more temperate environments such as the Mediterranean Sea. Due to their bioactive compound and secondary metabolites, content species of this genus have many medicinal uses in various countries, especially in some countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam, which are used as vegetables. The extract of this alga has antibacterial, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory properties. Due to this economic and scientific importance, accurate identification of these species is very important. Morphological similarities between some species of this genus and phenotypic changes caused by ecological factors have caused some complications and problems with inaccurate identification at the species level. For this reason, in addition to morphological features, phylogenetic analyzes are also used to accurate identification of the members of this genus. In this study, a molecular phylogeny was inferred from chloroplast tufA sequences of 35 taxa, which of them a sequence of Caulerpella ambigua used as an outgroup. The results confirmed the presence of Caulerpa selago in the algal flora of Iran which is the first record of this species from the coastlines of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman in the south of Iran.