DNA BARCODING OF BOTRYOSPHAERIACEAE

LOMBARD, L. (1), Crous, P.W. (1)

(1) CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Netherlands

Parallel Talk, Fungi 1, Napier 209, Friday, 10:00 to 10:20

Botryosphaeriaceae is a genus- and species-rich family of fungi with a world-wide distribution. Species of this family are generally regarded as endophytic, with some members being aggressive latent pathogens of woody plant hosts, on which they are associated with dieback and canker disorders. Due to their latent phase in the plant host, identification for quarantine purposes is sometimes difficult. Therefore, a rapid and accurate identification method using DNA barcoding is essential. In this study, the performance of the standard fungal barcoding marker, the internal transcribed spacer region of the nrDNA operon (ITS), was compared to partial sequences of the translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene region (TEF-1α) as molecular diagnostic tool for several genera in Botryosphaeriaceae. For comparison purposes, the intra- and inter-specific pairwise distances were calculated and compared for each marker across species in the family, and Neighbour-Joining trees constructed for the individual markers to provide a graphic representation of species diversity. The ITS fungal barcoding region was found to possess sufficient intra- and inter-specific variation to resolve the majority of genera and species included. The TEF-1α gene region also showed sufficient intra- and inter-specific variation and was able to resolve taxa in species-rich complexes where the ITS marker provided insufficient resolution.

Keywords: Fungi, Quarantine/Plant Protection, Disease Vectors/Pathogens/Parasites, Environmental Quality Assessment, Environmental Barcoding, Ecological Applications, BARCODE Data Standard, Biorepositories and Collections