PHYLOGENETIC DIVERSITY OF A NATURAL POPULATION OF Colletotrichum SPP. ISOLATED FROM DIFFERENT SUBSTRATES IN MOROCCO

The great morphological similarities within the Colletotrichum genus and the lack of precision of classical identification methods have made the use of molecular methods mandatory. Despite the great diversity of species within the Colletotrichum genus, very few morphological characters are expressed. Morphological examination of the isolates of Colletotrichum lupini and Colletotrichum  acutatum isolated from the olive trees and strawberry allowed to observe colonies of identical appearance and colors, cylindrical conidia, spindle-shaped of different sizes. The studied isolates of Colletotrichum were identified by sequencing the ITS region which includes the ITS1, ITS2 regions and the 5,8S gene. Analysis with the BLAST tool of the obtained sequences with other sequences from GenBank, showed more than 95% of similarities of the OCol1, OCol2, OCol3, OCol4 and FCollu3 isolates with Colletotrichum lupini and of the OColA isolate with Colletotrichum acutatum. The result of the phylogeny of the five isolates resulting from this study made it possible to group these accessions into two groups, a group containing four Moroccan isolates and a second group containing the other isolates from the different countries with a Moroccan isolate (accession number: MN064849), the phylogenetic proximity of the latter to other isolates from GenBank can be explained by the presence of multiple point mutations that are common in this group.