Identification of taxa of E-strain mycorrhizal fungi by restriction fragment analysis

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Abstract
A comparison of cultures of E-strain fungi isolated from mycorrhizal roots and cultures isolated from ascocarps of the teleomorph genus Wilcoxina indicates that the majority of E-strain fungi can be accommodated in two taxa, Wilcoxina mikolae and Wilcoxina rehmii. Comparisons were based upon restriction fragment polymorphisms within the nuclear ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) and culture morphology (color, growth rate, vegetative spore production). Restriction fragment patterns were quite consistent within taxa, although there was variation that appeared to be due to differences in length of the intergenic spacer. Morphological characters were less reliable for identifying taxa, with growth rate and color showing considerable variation among isolates on different growth media. The presence of terminal chlamydospores was consistently associated with W. mikolae isolates from pine but is not diagnostic of this taxon for isolates from spruce. Key words: E-strain, Wilcoxina, mycorrhiza, ribosomal DNA, restriction fragment length polymorphism.