Diversity of Macrophomina phaseolina Based on Morphological and Genotypic Characteristics in Iran

Fifty two Macrophomina phaseolina isolates were recovered from 24 host plant species through the 14 Iranian provinces. All isolates were confirmed to species using species-specific primers. The colony characteristics of each isolate were recorded, including chlorate phenotype, relative growth rate at $30^{\circ}C$ and $37^{\circ}C$, average size of microsclerotia, and time to microsclerotia formation. The feathery colony phenotype was the most common (63.7%) on the chlorate selective medium and represented the chlorate sensitive phenotype of the Iranian Macrophomina phaseolina population. Meantime, inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) Markers were used to assess the genetic diversity of the fungus. Unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic means (UPGMA) clustering of data showed that isolates did not clearly differentiate to the specific group according to the host or geographical origins, however, usually the isolates from the same host or the same geographic origin tend to group nearly. Our results did not show a correlation between the genetic diversity based on the ISSR and phenotypic characteristics. Similar to the M. phaseolina populations in the other countries, the Iranian isolates were highly diverse based on the phenotypic and the genotypic characteristics investigated and needs more studies using neutral molecular tools to get a deeper insight into this complex species.