Assessment of variation in sequences of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacers in Glomus mosseae and Gigaspora margarita from a pasture community.

ANTONIOLLI, ZAIDA INES¹, SALLY SMITH¹, KATHY OPHEL-KELLER², DANIEL SCHACHTMAN³ & ZEZE ADOLPHE¹.

¹Department of Soil Science, University of Adelaide, PMB 1, Glen Osmond. S.A. 5064 Australia ²South Australia Research and Development Institute, Glen Osmond, PMB 1, S.A. 5064. Australia, ³Department of Botany, The University of Adelaide North Terrace, Adelaide, S.A. 5005. Australia.

The nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was PCR-amplified from single spores of Glomus mosseae and Gigaspora margarita from a pasture field population and a pool of spores of Gigaspora margarita from pot culture. After extraction from spores DNA was submitted to PCR amplification with the primers ITS1 and ITS4. Clones of the amplification products sequenced.
The size of the ITS region varied from 540 to 560 base pairs for G. mosseae and was around 460 base pairs for Gi. margarita. The sequences from single spores of G. mosseae indicate that more the one ITS region co-exists in one spore. Twenty three sequences were obtained from three single spores. These gave two clusters when aligned using Clustal method from DNASTAR. The ITS region of Gi. margarita was more conserved, giving only one cluster. The results suggest that the genetic diversity in the ITS region is higher in G. mosseae than in Gi. margarita.