MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION AND GERMPLASM CONSERVATION OF WILD MUSHROOMS FROM MAYANTOC, TARLAC, PHILIPPINESLARIZA MAE A. PAJARILLAGA, SHIENA MARIE C. FERMIN, MIKE ANDRE C. MALONZO, SOFRONIO P. KALAW, ANGELES M. DE LEON, RENATO G. REYES AND JERWIN R. UNDANAbstract Tarlac is a landlocked province located in Central Luzon, Philippines. It has natural forests containing natural vegetation which offers favorable surroundings for the mushrooms to grow. In this study, a collection of macrofungi was conducted, followed by molecular identification. The genomic DNA was extracted through CTAB method, and amplified the ITS region using Internal Transcribe Spacer (ITS) gene marker. The amplified products were sequenced and identified using BLAST NCBI analysis. There are 25 mushroom samples that were successfully identified and with high similarity with those of other related species retrieved from GenBank. The samples were classified into 6 orders, 12 families, 15 genera, and 25 species from Basidiomycota and Ascomycota which separated into two branches in the phylogeny tree. The tree also shows that the most species collected were from the order Polyporales with 11 species grouped in the first clade followed by Agaricales with 8 mushroom species. A portion of the fruiting body with 15% glycerol and all the mycelial samples were transferred in cryovials and placed in a cryofreezer for preservation. |