Journal of General Plant Pathology (2001) 67, 28-36

Eric V. Virtudazo, Hitoshi Nakamura and Makoto Kakishima (2001)
Phylogenetic analysis of sugarcane rusts based on sequences of ITS, 5.8 S rDNA and D1/D2 regions of LSU rDNA
Journal of General Plant Pathology 67 (1), 28-36
Abstract: Phylogenetic analysis of sugarcane rusts based on sequences of ITS and the 5.8 S rDNA revealed two highly divergent ITS groups among isolates of Puccinia sp. sensu Muta, 1987 and P. kuehnii specimens. Although there is sufficient divergence (exceeding normal intraspecific variation) between the ITS regions of the two groups to support separation into different species, unusually high homology of the ITS group I sequences with those of members of Cronartium and identical sequences of the D1/D2 regions of the LSU rDNA for all the isolates of 'Puccinia sp.' and P. kuehnii that otherwise exhibited different ITS sequences, suggest that the two highly divergent sequences may have resulted from abnormal genetic events leading to non-orthologous, intraspeciflc polymorphisms. The other sugarcane rust, P. melanocephala and the grass rusts, P. miscanthi and P. rufipes, were separated from 'Puccinia sp.' and P. kuehnii and from each other in D1/D2 region analyses, indicating that D1/D2 region sequences may more correctly reflect phylogenetic relationships in these rusts than do the ITS regions. Further studies to examine differences in pathogenicity or finer morphological features within P. kuehnii that may be correlated with the high divergence in ITS sequences and experiments to determine if these two sequence types represent intraspeciflc polymorphism are necessary.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Makoto Kakishima

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
identification/taxonomy
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Puccinia melanocephala	Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum)
	Puccinia kuehnii	Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum)