Morphological and Molecular Taxonomical Study of Euglena viridis Ehren and Euglena gracilis Klebs Growing in Aleppo, Syria

Abstract

In spite of the big progress in taxonomy by means of the classical methods, they could not help dealing with many issues especially when studying similar species. This led scientists to use the genotype. Molecular biological data came to emphasize the given taxonomical data which is reasonable since that all the characteristics in an organism reflect the molecular reservoir the organism has “the DNA”. Matter produced by organisms is remarkable. Evolutionary optimized properties such as in Euglena (E.) Euglena descends to the protozoa, It mostly occurs in still water of puddles, ponds, and lakes especially in water with high levels of organic nutrients, Species of genus Euglena are very important for the food chain, and are used as indicators of water quality and in many academic studies. In this study two species were isolated (E. viridis and E. gracilis ) and cultivated by using The differential modified media (HUT, Cramer and Myers). E. viridis was cultivated on Hutner's modified medium (HUT), while E. gracilis was Cultivated on Cramer and Myers modified medium. Both species were classified morphologically and Molecularly using species-specific primers. A local taxonomic key was developed.