Mycelial Compatibility Groups and Microsatellite Markers Reveal Genetic Diversity Within and Among Populations of Sunflower Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in China

• DOI: 10.33687/phytopath.003.01.0385
• Publication Date: 2019-12-10T11:43:22Z
• Authors: Yujie Wang; Yaguang Hou; Haoyu Bo; Hongyou Zhou; Lan Jing; Jun Zhao
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences

The genetic variability and differentiation among 101 sunflower Sclerotinia sclerotiorum isolates collected from four different geographic regions of China were analyzed using mycelial compatibility groupings (MCGs) and microsatellite markers. Twenty three MCGs were identified among all tested isolates. The majority of isolates collected from the same region were grouped in to the same MCGs, indicating less genetic variation of S. sclerotiorum within the same region. But there still have exceptions for some isolates. Also microsatellite marker data revealed that all tested isolates from four geographic populations could be divided into three distinct clusters, isolates from Inner Mongolia and Ninxia regions formed cluster I, isolates from Heilongjiang and Xinjiang formed separate clusters II and III . The percentage of variance within and among different geographic populations was 84.54% and 15.46% respectively and both variances were significantly different from each other (p<0.01). Meanwhile, association between the microsatellite haplotype and MCGs was observed but not so significant; majority isolates from the same MCG showed the same haplotype, but certain samples showed different haplotypes, although they belonged to the same MCG. Based on the virulence test results, we also found that MCGs not only represent the genetic variation of tested isolates, but also reflect their pathogenic ability to a certain extent.