Genetic diversity, mating types and phylogenetic analysis of Indian races of <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> f. sp. <i>ciceris</i> from chickpea

The present study describes the comparative analysis of five genetic markers viz., random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC), BOX-elements, mating type (MAT) locus and microsatellites for genetic analysis of virulent isolates of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri (FOC) representing seven races from chickpea. Phylogenetic analysis of translation elongation factor 1-α and internal transcribed spacer region separated all the FOC isolates into two major clades. Majority of the isolates (FOC 63, FOC 33, FOC 40, FOC 100, FOC 6, FOC 22, FOC 31, FOC 79 and NDFOC 98) representing race 1, 2, 5 and 6 grouped in clade I, while isolates (FOC 90, FOC 108 and FOC 88) belonging to race 3, 4 and 7 were clustered in clade II. Isolates (FOC 33, FOC 40, FOC 17 and FOC 100) representing race 2 had MAT-2 loci, while race 1 isolates (FOC 63, FOC 72 and FOC 76) contained MAT-1 loci only. The principal component analysis (PCA) of RAPD, ERIC, BOX and microsatellite marker data explained 39.94, 39.98, 42.04 and 62.59% of the total variation among test isolates, respectively. Furthermore, there was no correlation existed between genetic diversity, virulence, race compositions or geographic origin of the isolates. Overall, these findings will assist in better understanding of the genetic variability and ideally, will improve disease management practices.