MOLECULAR DIVERSITY AND PATHOTYPE ANALYSES OF Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. tentis POPULATION FROM NORTHEASTERN GANGETIC PLAIN REGION OF INDIA.

Twenty four isolates of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lentis (Fol,) collected from different lentil growing areas of the Gangetic plain showed variation with respect to cultural and morphological characters. The extent of genetic diversity was evaluated using a set of 40 RAPD primers and 12 SSR primer pairs, out of which 25 RAPD primers and 9 SSR primer pairs revealed polymorphisms among the isolates. A total of 217 polymorphic fragments for the RAPD primers and 22 for the SSR primers were scored. Genetic similarity between each the isolates was calculated using the Jaccard similarity coefficient and cluster analysis was used to generate a dendrogram showing relationship between them. The isolates could be grouped into two subpopulations based on RAPD and SSR analysis. Results obtained indicate that there is little genetic variability among a subpopulation of Fol as identified by RAPD and SSR markers. Also, results indicated that the Fol isolates differ in their aggressiveness on the susceptible lines and that there is no apparent correlation between geographical origin and aggressiveness of isolates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]