Discriminating microsatellites fromMacrophomina phaseolinaand their potential association to biological functions

Abstract

One hundred and eighty‐two microsatellites or simple‐sequence‐repeat (SSR) markers forMacrophomina phaseolinawere developed. These were tested on 24 isolates ofM. phaseolinaobtained from seven plant species, and the genetic variation of isolates was studied in relation to potential biological processes that could be affected in this fungus. A total of 120 SSR markers were polymorphic, amplifying >90% of the 24 isolates tested. Thirty percent of the markers showed multiple alleles on individual samples. A large number of markers showed unique alleles in isolates collected from pumpkin and snap bean. DNA sequences corresponding to 43 markers had significant hits onblastx and/orblast2go, and the polymorphism of 36 of those markers showed specific allele patterns for one or more plant host origin of the isolates. Additional tests on growth rate and copper resistance of the isolates identified markers that could be related to those traits. In addition, 27 markers were monomorphic and amplified all 24 isolates. Whereas polymorphic markers can be used for population genetics studies ofM. phaseolina, the group of 27 monomorphic markers could help in the fast identification of this species in clinical specimens. The SSR markers developed here will enrich the limited molecular marker resource inM. phaseolinaand could be used as the basis for more in‐depth studies of the host‐pathogen interactions ofM. phaseolina.