STUDIES ON MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF RAGI BLAST PATHOGENS FOR VARIABILITY AMONG PYRICULARIA GRISEA (CKE) SACC. ISOLATED FROM VARIOUS REGIONS OF TAMIL NADU BY RAPD MARKERS ANALYSIS

ARUNKUMAR NAGARATHINAM¹*, SENTHIL RAMU², RAGUCHANDER THIRUVANKADAM^3
1Department of Agricultural Microbiology, AC & RI, TNAU, Madurai, 625 104, Tamil Nadu, India
²Department of Plant Pathology, TNAU, Coimbatore- 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
³Department of Plant Pathology, TNAU, Coimbatore- 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
* Corresponding Author : arunan.agri@gmail.com

Received : 02-02-2016     Accepted : 11-03-2016     Published : 28-04-2016
Volume : 8     Issue : 14       Pages : 1236 - 1239
Int J Agr Sci 8.14 (2016):1236-1239

Keywords : Ragi blast, Pyricularia grisea, Tamil Nadu, Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA
Academic Editor : Dr M. Logapriyan
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : None declared
Author Contribution : None declared

Pyricularia grisea (Cke) Sacc incites blast disease in finger millet and rice. An r-DNA region was amplified from the 12 isolates of P. grisea (B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, B10, B11 and B12) isolated from finger millet and rice, using the universal primers to form a phylogenetic tree revealed that the isolates fall in 3 different clusters. Where in, ITS1-5.8S – ITS5 sequences and Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA profiling of P.grisea isolates used in the study clustered into two main groups, in which the isolates B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, B10 and B11 formed one group with approximately 12 per cent similarity coefficient between them and B12 was grouped in separate cluster. Molecular characterization of ragi blast pathogens in the study by RAPD markers analysis segregated the isolates into different clusters confirmed that the rice and finger millet-infecting P. grisea populations of India are clearly distinct.