PRELIMINARY-RESULTS USING THE RAPD ANALYSIS TO SCREEN BLOOM POPULATIONS OF EMILIANIA-HUXLEYI (HAPTOPHYTA)

The feasibility of using the randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis to generate amplification fragment length polymorphism (AFLP ) 'fingerprints' was investigated. The isolates examined originate fro m a bloom in the North Atlantic and from various stages of a mesocosm experiment at the Marine Biological Field Station, University of Berge n, Norway. Preliminary evidence suggests that not all individuals with in either natural or mesocosm blooms are genetically identical. AFLP f ingerprinting offers the possibility of tracing genotypes during the d evelopment of blooms in the natural environment.