Elsevier

Mycological Research

Volume 105, Issue 11, November 2001, Pages 1313-1320
Mycological Research

The use of RAPD-PCR analysis for the differentiation of Mycosphaerella species from Eucalyptus in Australia

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0953756201004762Get rights and content

Mycosphaerella contains some of the most damaging foliar pathogens of Eucalyptus. Identification of the species has relied mainly on characters such as ascospore morphology and the mode of ascospore germination. Wide variation and overlap in morphological characters, especially ascospore shape and size, has lead to confusion in species concepts. This study examines the potential of RAPD-PCR to differentiate Mycosphaerella species that cause leaf diseases of Eucalyptus in Australia. RAPD-PCR was conducted on 39 isolates representing 10 species of Mycosphaerella collected from southern Australia. Primers were chosen mainly to distinguish between the two most common and damaging species in Australia, M. cryptica and M. nubilosa. The RAPD analysis revealed five groups within the 39 isolates, four of which represent distinct species: M. cryptica, M. gregaria, M. nubilosa and M. marksii. For these four species, the cluster analysis and RAPD patterns gave results that fitted well with classical taxonomic criteria. Variation within M. cryptica, M. nubilosa and M. marksii was low, even though the isolates within these species originated from diverse hosts and locations. The remaining species in this study grouped together and could not be easily separated using the RAPD data here.

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  • Cited by (10)

    • A multi-gene phylogeny for species of Mycosphaerella occurring on Eucalyptus leaves

      2006, Studies in Mycology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Crous (1998) and Crous et al. (2000) also introduced features of these fungi growing in culture and especially anamorph morphology as important and useful characteristics on which to base species delimitation. DNA-based methods such as RAPDs and species-specific primers have also been employed to distinguish between Mycosphaerella species occurring on Eucalyptus (Carnegie et al. 2001, Maxwell et al. 2005). Comparisons of DNA sequence data have emerged as the most reliable technique to identify Mycosphaerella spp.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
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    Current Address: Research and Development Division, State Forests of NSW, P.O. Box 100, Beecroft, NSW 2119, Australia.

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