January 17, 2025
PhD student Tina Bonačić published a paper in the journal Plants, presenting the results of two years studing (February 2022 – February 2024) Pseudo-nitzschia species dievrsity in the Central and Southeastern Adriatic Sea.
By the end of the study period, 184 Pseudo-nitzschia cell cultures had successfully been isolated and further analysed morphologically and moleculary by using at least two genetic markers. Eight Pseudo-nitzschia species were identified.
This integrating approach demonstrated the importance of combining these two methods (electron microscopy, FE/SEM-STEM, and molecular analysis using three gene markers: ITS, LSU, and rbcL) for reliable identification of cryptic and pseudo-cryptic species. It also contributed to the development of genetic sequence databases that support the advancement of next-generation methods such as metabarcoding.