Molecular Detection and Exploration of Diversity Among Fungal Consortium Involved in Phosphate Solubilization

Abstract

Phosphorous (P) that upholds life become unattainable as most of them become unavailable due to the formation of insoluble complexes with cations such as Ca2+, Al3+ and Fe3+ forming a complex calcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2), aluminum phosphate (AlPO) and ferrous phosphate (FePO) that results in the decrease of soluble P to a greater extent. There are several reports stating that several rhizospheric fungal species play an important role in solubilizing these insoluble phosphates into a soluble form by the excretion of enzymes like phosphatase, phytase enzymes, and organic acids. In view of this, so we have collected twenty fungal isolates having probable phosphate solubilizing efficiency from different regions of Lucknow, India. Their morphological and biochemical characteristics were tested. Among all, six efficient fungal isolates were further checked at molecular level by using 18S rRNA universal primers and by RAPD means. A dendrogram indicated 40-90% homology i.e., highest similarity was found in between species of Aspergillus flavus and A. biplanus with 33.8% similarity while minimum similarity was observed among A. flavus and Fusarium oxysporum. These findings suggest RAPD proves as, a reliable molecular tool that helps in strain specific discrimination.