AFLP characterization in pathogenic and coprophilous fungi

The objective of this study was to ascertain the usefulness of the AFLP technique in assessing genetic diversity among 47 strains belonging to three Ascomycota genera and as a tool for solving taxonomic problems in related morphological species. Four MseI +1 primers were assayed in combination with two EcoRI +2 and four EcoRI +3 primers. In the present study both +2 and +3 EcoRI primers were informative, but EcoRI +2 produced profiles with high complexity. The addition of the extra selective nucleotide reduced the complexity of the banding patterns generating easily readable patterns to evaluate genetic diversity within and among species. Of the three ascomycetous genera assessed in this study, Colletotrichum (Glomerellaceae) presented the highest proportion of polymorphic AFLP loci, followed in order by Iodophanus (Pezizaceae) and Saccobolus (Ascobolaceae).