Loop-mediated isothermal amplification for the rapid detection of Heterosigma akashiwo and Prorocentrum minimum collected from southern coastal region in Korea

Abstract

There are many marine microalgal species in world. Some of them are used with significant benefits as health functional foods or medical products. There are also many harmful species like red tide. Therefore it is quite necessary for us to make rapid and accurate identifications of these microalgae. However, it is quite difficult to accurately distinguish these microalgal species in terms of morphology so that we performed loop-mediated isothermal amplification analysis by using molecular marker for more accurate and rapid detection. LAMP is a simple, rapid, specific and cost-effective nucleic acid amplification method compared to general PCR analysis. In our previous studies, we have used the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) as a marker gene to identify microalgal species. In this presentation, we introduced the protocol how to identify 14 microalgal species by using mtCOI gene by PCR method. I addition, we also present the new approach about LAMP PCR analysis to identify two species, Heterosigma akashiwo and Prorocentrum minimum out of 14 species. Taken together, LAMP is powerful molecular method for identifying microalgae species from Korean South Sea.