Isolation and analysis of genetic diversity amongst <i>Sclerotinia sclerotiorum</i> isolates infecting cauliflower and pea

Abstract

<i>Sclerotinia sclerotiorum</i> is an ubiquitous plant pathogen responsible for a wide range of diseases among different vegetable crops with a host range of more than 400 plant species. It continues to be the most destructive plant pathogen for many years having no significant method for its control and management. In the present study, an attempt was made to isolate and characterize <i>S. sclerotiorum</i> from infected cauliflower and pea grown in Solan and Sirmaur districts of Himachal Pradesh, India. The isolates were characterized morphologically and molecularly by the amplification of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) using specific primers, followed by sequencing. The genetic diversity among the sixteen isolates of <i>S.</i> <i>sclerotiorum</i> was also studied using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Four random primers, <i>viz.</i>, OPA-14, OPA-16, OPA-17 and OPA-20 were used for RAPD analysis. Clustering based on RAPD fingerprint data revealed two groups and ten independent branches at 0.70 similarity value.