Genetic variability among isolates and sexual offspring of the plant pathogenic fungus Calonectria morganii on the basis of random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)

Thirty-two strains of the phytopathogenic mold Cylindrocladium scoparium (perfect state Calonectria morganii) isolated from ericaceous hosts and two specimens from the ATCC were examined by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Five oligonucleotides were chosen as primers for differentiation of the isolates. RAPD patterns of the ATCC strains differed significantly from those of the field isolates. Diversity among field isolates was low. Results obtained in RFLP analysis, with telomere repeats of Neurospora crassa as a probe, were highly consistent with the RAPD data. Isolates were paired in all possible combinations; fertile perithecia occurred in only one combination, from which ascospores were analyzed by formal genetics and RAPD. A bipolar mechanism of homogenic incompatibility was found. Ascospore-derived strains were much more variable than field isolates. Phylogenetic trees suggested a correlation to the host plants from which the strains were isolated.