Identification of Porphyra lines using computerized DNA fingerprinting

RAPD (Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA) analysis was performed with filaments of 15 Porphyra lines representing four important groups (P. yezoensis, P. haitanensis, P. katadai var. Hemiphylla and P. oligospermatangia). Eight stable and repeatable RAPD bands amplified with two primers, OPN-02 and OPJ-18, were selected for the construction of DNA fingerprinting. The RAPD results were scored based on the presence or absence of each of the 8 bands and then converted to computer language expressed with two digitals, 1 and 0, which represented the presence (numbered as 1) or absence (numbered as 0) of each band, respectively. Based on these results, a model DNA fingerprint and a computerized DNA fingerprint were constructed. In the constructed DNA fingerprint, each Porphyra line has its unique fingerprinting pattern and can be easily distinguished from each other. Later, a software, named as PhGI, was designed based on this DNA fingerprinting. It can be used in practical Porphyra line identification.