DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN HIRSUTELLA-LONGICOLLA VAR LONGICOLLA AND HIRSUTELLA-LONGICOLLA VAR CORNUTA USING RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA FINGERPRINTING

The synnematous, fungal entomopathogen Hirsutella longicolla var. longicolla is distinguished from a variety Hirsutella longicolla var. cornuta on the basis of the synnematal morphology. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting supports the view that these fungi are genetically distinct. Two different banding patterns, one corresponding to isolates of the species and the other to the variety, were generated with two primers and DNA from 19 isolates. Fur-ther analysis using nine isolates (four of the species and five of the variety) with three additional primers confirmed the distinction between the species and its variety. This work illustrates the usefulness of the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA technique in addressing taxonomic questions.