Patterns of diversity in populations of the turfgrass pathogen Colletotrichum cereale as revealed by transposon fingerprint profiles

Anthracnose disease of cool-season turfgrasses, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum cereale, has recently emerged as one of the most significant pathogens of Poa annua. Here we investigated the utility of four repetitive transposable elements as molecular markers for the analysis of C. cereale populations. Southern blot hybridization analysis revealed lineage-specific polymorphisms and distribution patterns for these transposons. Comparative phylogenetic analysis of three nonrepetitive protein coding DNA sequences against the transposon restriction fragment length polymorphisms indicated that the transposon sequences have similar evolutionary histories to those found in the sampled C. cereale population, despite the alteration of several transposon copies by repeat-induced point mutation. The variability and ubiquity of the Ccret2(A15) transposon in C. cereale genomes suggest that this element could be used as a reliable DNA marker to discriminate between lineages of the fungus, identify hybrid genotypes, and analyze genetic diversity in populations of this turfgrass pathogen.