Differentiation of some myxomycetes species by ITS sequences

Abstract

Seven different PCR primers targeting 18 different myxomycetes genera were designed and ribosomal DNA ITS1-5.8SrDNAITS2 regions of 52 morphologically characterized species from Turkey were amplified and sequenced. The studied species belong to the genera Arcyria, Badhamia, Ceratiomyxa, Collaria, Comatricha, Cribraria, Diachea, Diderma, Didymium, Enerthenema, Lamproderma, Lycogala, Perichaena, Physarum, Reticularia, Stemonitis, Stemonitopsis, and Trichia. Significant ITS region size and sequence variations were observed among the analyzed species. The ITS based phylogenetic tree did not reflect evolutionary relationships at genus or higher level. The only exception was the genus Didymium, which formed a clearly distinctive cluster in the phylogenetic tree containing 18 different genera. It was concluded that interspecies variation of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region is high enough to differentiate species, but this region did not reflect the evolutionary relationships between the myxomycetes species. Hence, we suggested that sequencing of the ITS region could only be used as a supporting tool for the phenotypic identification, not for revealing the evolutionary relationships between the myxomycetes species.

Seven different PCR primers targeting 18 different myxomycetes genera were designed and ribosomal DNA ITS1-5.8SrDNAITS2 regions of 52 morphologically characterized species from Turkey were amplified and sequenced. The studied species belong to the genera Arcyria, Badhamia, Ceratiomyxa, Collaria, Comatricha, Cribraria, Diachea, Diderma, Didymium, Enerthenema, Lamproderma, Lycogala, Perichaena, Physarum, Reticularia, Stemonitis, Stemonitopsis, and Trichia. Significant ITS region size and sequence variations were observed among the analyzed species. The ITS based phylogenetic tree did not reflect evolutionary relationships at genus or higher level. The only exception was the genus Didymium, which formed a clearly distinctive cluster in the phylogenetic tree containing 18 different genera. It was concluded that interspecies variation of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region is high enough to differentiate species, but this region did not reflect the evolutionary relationships between the myxomycetes species. Hence, we suggested that sequencing of the ITS region could only be used as a supporting tool for the phenotypic identification, not for revealing the evolutionary relationships between the myxomycetes species.