Restriction Fragment Polymorphisms in Biological Species of Armillaria Mellea

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Abstract
This study used restriction fragment polymorphisms in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA to confirm what had been surmised from the studies of mating interactions among isolates of Armillaria mellea (broad sense): that the “biological species” are distinct entities among which genetic divergence has occurred. We examined the DNAs of 16 isolates representing 8 biological species. Three different types of DNA were used as probes in Southern hybridizations with EcoRI-digested, whole-cell or nuclear DNAs: i) total mitochondrial DNA from a strain of biological species I, ii) ten bacterial plasmid clones carrying random EcoRI fragments of nuclear DNA from a strain of biological species I, and iii) a plasmid clone carrying the entire rDNA repeat from Sehizophyllum commune. Most of the restriction fragments identified were variable in the sample and most of the variability was between, rather than within, biological species.