APPLICATION OF THE RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA (RAPD) TECHNIQUE TO DISTINGUISHING SPECIES OF THE RED TIDE PHYTOPLANKTON CHATTONELLA (RAPHYDOPHYCEAE)

The random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was applied to s train and species identification. Four different arbitrary primers wer e tested with DNAs from seven strains of four species of red tide alga e of the genus Chattonella. Two of the primers showed species-dependen t profiles, while the other two identified differences between strains . The results indicate that the RAPD technique is useful for distingui shing polymorphisms among species or strains.