Hamid Alvanipour, Mohammad Javan-Nikkhah, Heshmatollah Aminian, Khalil Alami-Saeid, Karim Sorkheh,
Volume 13, Issue 2 (9-2024)
Abstract
The fungus Mauginiella scaettae is the causative agent of the destructive Khamej disease (inflorescence rot) common in various date palm cultivation areas. UP-PCR is one of the DNA fingerprinting methods with high reproducibility and specificity. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of DNA amplification with UP-PCR primers and the feasibility of studying the genetic diversity of M. scaettae isolates using this marker. Date palm inflorescences with Khamej disease symptoms were sampled in Khuzestan and Fars provinces. The purified isolates were identified based on morphological characteristics and confirmed by amplification and sequencing of the ITS-nrDNA genomic region. Three primer pairs UP-15/19, UP-21 and UP-45 were used to investigate the possibility of amplification and determine the genetic diversity among the fungal isolates. Five isolates of M. scaettae were obtained from three cities: Abadan, Karun and Behbahan in Khuzestan province and one sample from Kazerun in Fars province. The isolates were obtained from four date palm cultivars: Sayer, Khazravi, Khasi and Zahedi. Constructing of phylogenetic tree based on ITS sequences confirmed that the isolate belonged to M. scaettae fungus with 100% bootstrap values. Examination of the UP-PCR marker amplification results showed that the highest number of observed bands was related to the UP15 primer and the lowest number of bands was related to the UP45 primer. Band diversity was observed between the UP-PCR primers used, but genetic diversity was not observed among the five M. scaettae isolates in any of the three UP-PCR primers and the banding pattern of the isolates was similar for each primer. The reason for the failure to detect genetic diversity between isolates of this pathogen using these primers and the marker could be due to their close genetic relationship.
