فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Noctiluca scintillans is the first described dinoflagellate that has been widely scrutinized because of its potential for red tide formation and bioluminescence. Nevertheless, its phylogenetic position with members of the Noctilucales order is still unstable and challenging. In this research, the morphology of N. scintillans collected from the Persian Gulf was described by observation under an inverted microscope and then the Small Subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) gene fragment was amplified by the single-cell method. The Small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene sequence or SSU rDNA sequence was determined for the Iranian strain of N. scintillans. In the phylogenetic analysis of SSU rDNA in this study, the order Noctilucales appeared as a monophyletic clade of free-living species in a basal position of the tree, being an early divergent lineage within dinoflagellates branching before the core dinoflagellates. Although this position is supported moderately, the current study generally supports the hypothesis that noctilucids are placed in an ancestral origin within dinoflagellates and are regarded as an ancestral lineage for dinoflagellates.