AFLP genotyping improves the level of discrimination between the Fusarium species responsible for head blight in wheat

Abstract

Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was applied to genotype 186 Czech isolates of the Fusarium species responsible for head blight disease in wheat. Using 15 primer combinations, 694 polymorphic fragments were detected. The effective number of patterns was dependent on both the identity of the selective primer combination and on which Fusarium species was involved. The most informative primer combinations were CAT + AT, CAT + AC and CTA + AG, and a triplex assay based on CAT was able to distinguish all 186 isolates from each other. A principal component analysis identified six phylogenetic clusters, and this genetic architecture was supported by an analysis of population structure. AFLP profiling is an appropriate method for uncovering differences between these groups of Fusarium species.