Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

NEW REPORT OF THE PATHOGENIC ISOLATE OF FUSARIUM SOLANI ISOLATED FROM IRAQI POTATO TUBERS INFECTED WITH FUSARIUM DRY ROT

Majeed M. Dewan, Ali H. AL-Asadi1 and Aqeel N. AL-Abedy

Abstract

This study was carried out in the Plant Virology laboratory of the Plant Protection Department at the College of Agriculture, University of Kerbala, Iraq in order to isolate and diagnose the causal agent causing dry rot of potato tubers. The isolated fungus was identified using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique and determining the nucleotide sequences of the amplified-PCR products using the primer pair ITS1 and ITS4. PCR amplification of DNA extracted from the isolated fungus showed the possibility of amplifying a 500bp PCR product. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the PCR-amplified product using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) showed that the isolate identified in this study belong to the fungus Fusarium solani. A phylogenetic tree, constructed using the nucleotide sequences of F.solani isolated in this study and F. isolates previously registered in the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), showed three main clades. Among these F. solani isolates, the F. solani isolated in this study appeared in a separated clade with 99% similarity percentage with other F. solani isolates. Therefore, this isolate was recorded in GenBank under the accession number MN124374.