STUDY ON THE GENETIC DIVERSITY OF Mycosphaerella graminicola CAUSE OF SEPTORIA LEAF BLOTCH OF WHEAT IN IRAN USING SSR, SCAR AND REP-PCR MARKERS

To study the genetic structure of the Mycosphaerella graminicola, cause of septoria leaf blotch of wheat in Iran, fifty eight isolates of the fungus were collected randomly from wheat fields of Golestan, Mazandaran, Ardebil, Ilam, Khozestan, Kermanshah and Fars provinces. SSR and SCAR markers were used to estimate genetic diversity of the population. Frequencies of alleles of each locus were detected. Genetic diversity values ranged from 0.25 to 0.62 with an average of 0.44. Partitioning the total genetic variability into within-and among-location components revealed that 77% of the genetic variability occurred within locations but relatively little variability (23%) occurred among locations. Using ERIC 1AR and BOX 2 primers, totally, 158 reproducible fragments were amplified ranging from 100 bp to 1000bp. Similarity of the isolates were determined using Dice's coefficient and UPGMA clustering method. The results showed that isolates St20 from Kermanshah and St29 from Ilam provinces had the highest (100%) similarity suggesting that they might have been originated from the same clonal lineage. Other isolates were less similar (less than 50% similarity).