Isolation and characterization of mitochondrial DNA of the oomycetous fungus Phytophthora infestans

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Phytophthora infestans has been isolated and preliminarily characterized. It has a low GC content of about 22.4% which is distinctly different from that of nuclear DNA (51 %). This property has been used to separate both DNA species in the presence of 4′,6-diamidine-2-phenylindole (DAPI) in CsCl density gradients. The use of cetyl triammonium bromide (CTAB) for extraction of DNA significantly reduced its degradation. The base distribution of the mtDNA shows a limited intramolecular heterogeneity. The molecule contains 36.2 ± 0.3 kb as revealed by endonuclease digestion and seems to be circular as shown by restriction mapping. No differences were found in restriction patterns between mtDNAs from various pathotypes.