Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

Cylindrocladium pauciramosum, hypothesized to be native to South or Central America, has recently been reported from Italy, where it was identified on the basis of morphological characters as well as mating type studies. PCR oligonucleotide primers named CPAUCIR/ CPAUCIF were designed from b-tubulin gene sequences to improve detection. These primers amplified a 161 bp fragment of the b-tubulin gene from all C. pauciramosum isolates tested but failed to amplify DNA from other four Cylindrocladium species (C. scoparium, C. candelabrum, C. insulare and C. mexicanum) and to isolates of several other fungi or stramenopiles. In nested PCR asssays, these primers efficiently amplified C. pauciramosum DNA sequences from infected plants, thus proving to be a suitable diagnostic tool.