Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Ectomycorrhizal Amanita Species Associated with Pinus wallichiana A. B. Jacks.

Abstract

Worldwide genus Amanita is represented by more than 500 ectomycorrhizal (ECM) species. These species form mutualistic associations with a number of host trees among which the conifers predominate. Set out to explore the ECM associations of Amanita in Kashmir Himalayas, Amanita calyptroderma, Amanita pantherina and Amanita vaginata show symbiotic associations with the roots of Pinus wallichiana. Besides morphological characterization of mycorrhizal roots and sporocarps, molecular characterization of rDNA ITS region was performed for identification of species. ITS-rDNA was used for molecular analysis. The target region of rDNA was amplified using universal fungal primers (ITS1 and ITS4). The sequencing of amplified products and their subsequent blast analysis confirmed the identification of species by comparing the sequences of these species with sequences present in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis also confirmed the identification of species.