A novel alpine species of Haematococcus (Chlamydomonadales: Chlorophyta) from New Zealand

The unicellular motile green alga Haematococcus lacustris (Chlorophyceae) is an economically important species capable of producing the high value pigment astaxanthin, used widely in aquaculture, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Phylogenetic diversity in this genus is not very well understood even though significant physiological variability between strains has been observed. Understanding diversity can be important from a biotechnology perspective. Here we propose a new species of Chlorophyta, Haematococcus alpinus, isolated from Canyon Creek in the New Zealand alpine zone. This species is distinguished from others by location, number and thickness of cytoplasmic strands. Phylogenetic analysis based on 18S rDNA, ITS rDNA, rbcL genes and comparison of secondary structures of ITS1 showed that our species is distinct with no known close relatives.