Abstract
Algae have high ecological and commercial importance; the estimated turnover of the seaweed industry is USD 10 billion. In order to understand the distribution of seaweed, their identification is necessary, which is generally based on morphological characteristics, often resulting in the wrong identification at the species level. DNA fingerprinting could be used for species-level identification. The technique can resolve many intrinsic problems of morphological taxonomy as only a small amount of tissue is required for species identification. Along with conservation biology, DNA fingerprinting could also be used in the identification of invasive and endangered species. In the case of algae, DNA fingerprinting was beneficial for the recognition of high-yielding agar strains as well as for the identification of cryptic species. In this study, several identification-based problems of algae have been discussed by using different intraspecific markers, such as protein banding pattern and ISSR, for eight algae (Padina pavonica, Turbinaria gracilis, Carpomitra costata, Pterocladiella capillacea , Cladostephus spongiosus, Ulva lactuca, Sporochnus comosus, and Sargassum muticum), were collected from the Gulf of Aqaba, specifically from the beaches of Haql (28?45?N, 34?45?E). According to the available data, the ISSR marker is more effective than protein banding pattern for the measurement of algal genetic diversity.