Use of RAPD-PCR to Characterize Eurotium Strains Isolated from Date Fruits

Twenty-nine species and 15 fungal genera were collected from 30 samples of Egyptian date fruits incubated on 50% sucrose-Czapek's agar medium at 27°C. Eurotium was the most frequent genus and occurred in 83.3% of the samples contributing 22.6% of total fungi. For further genotypic characterization, the genus Eurotium represented by 5 species was compared with some type strains from culture collection of Institute of Applied Microbiology, Agricultural Sciences University, Austria. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used for the estimation of genetic variability in this genus. Using 3 primers for the analysis, distinct fragments were obtained. The derived dendrogram clustered the strains according to the species.