GENETIC ANALYSIS OF INONOTUS OBLIQUUS STRAINS BY RAPD GENETSKA ANALIZA NIZOVA INONOTUS OBLIQUUSA POMO)U METODE RAPD

Summary: RAPD profiling of eight Inonotus obliquus strains isolated from sclerotia collected from different areas of China was conducted to determine the genetic variability within this important medicinal fungus and to better define relationships between the genotype and geographical origins of isolation. Twelve 10-mer primers generated a total of 167 stable and reproducible DNA fragments, of which 101 (60.5%) were polymorphic. DNA fingerprints revealed genetic diversity among the strains tested, but there was the little intraspecific difference between the fingerprints of individual strains. A phenogram constructed based on UPGMA analysis of genetic distances calculated from RAPD fragment data identified three distinct groupings: (1) BCX01 and BCX02, (2) JL01, JL02, JL03, JL04 and JL05, (3) HLJ01. Our data confirm that the genetic variability among different strains may be a useful ancillary tool for identifying I. obliquus sclerotia of different geographical origins.