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Title: AFLP CHARACTERIZATION OF COLLETOTRICHUM ISOLATES PATHOGENIC TO ALFALFA

Author
item Oneill, Nichole
item Van Berkum, Peter

Submitted to: Northeast Branch of American Society of Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/23/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A major reason for the limited success in disease management is our limited understanding of the genetic structure of pathogen populations. A new molecular genetics tool, Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) DNA fingerprinting, was applied to anthracnose disease pathogens of alfalfa to assess the levels of genomic variations among species, races, and isolates in the genus Colletotrichum. Complex fingerprint patterns enabled the placement of unusually virulent anthracnose pathogens into two species. Dendrograms were generated from data analyzed by parsimony and by the distance method using either simple matching or Jaccard coefficients. Similarity matrices generated from three primer pairs were highly correlated. The AFLP technique was useful for the genetic characterization of individual isolates within the complex genus Colletotrichum because of the ability to generate large numbers of polymorphisms and the consistency of the PCR amplification. An understanding of fungal population genetics and of the extent of pathogenic variation and mechanisms that direct this variation is essential if disease management through stable genetic resistance in alfalfa is to be achieved.