GENOTYPIC DIVERSITY AND TYPING OF CYANOBACTERIAL STRAINS OF THE GENUSARTHROSPIRA BY VERY SENSITIVE TOTAL DNA RESTRICTION PROFILE ANALYSIS

Arthrospira maxima and A. platensis are two species of cyanobacteria c ultivated and sold as health food, animal feed and source of food addi tives and fine chemicals. The genotypic diversity of several strains a ttributed to these two species on the basis of morphological criteria was investigated using very sensitive total DNA restriction profile an alysis. The restriction profiles were obtained after sodium dodecyl su lphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver staining. The unw eighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages applied to the mat rix of Dice similarity coefficient values clustered the electropherogr ams of the strains in two well-separated genotypic groups. These clust ers corresponded to those obtained with morphological criteria. The mo lecular approach used was also able to type the examined strains.