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POSTERS: Population biology and genetics

Assessment of genetic diversity of Aspergillus spp. Section Nigri populations in Georgia peanuts by DNA fingerprinting techniques.
Brian Jordan - University of Georgia. Albert Culbreath- UGA Dept of Plant Pathology, Timothy Brenneman- University of Georgia, Renee Arias- U.S Department of Agriculture

A population of 288 isolates of Aspergillus spp. Section Nigri were obtained from peanut (Arachis hypogaea) seeds and peanut plants from the state of Georgia. DNA of these isolates was subjected to fingerprinting analysis using 19 microsatellites (SSR) and 5 Indel (insertion/deletion) markers. These markers were developed by mining sequences from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and then using Clone Manager and Primer3 to align sequences and design primers. Fungal isolates of the section Nigri from the collection at NPRL were included in the analysis for comparison. Cluster analysis by Neighbor Joining and 3D-Principal Coordinate Analysis (3D-PCoA) of the fingerprinting results were performed to identify potential groups of isolates. In 3D-PCoA, the first three dimensions explained 78.9 % of the genetic variation. The fingerprinting was used to separate genotypes into groups. Results of cluster analysis will be used to identify representative isolates for further study of whole genome sequencing. This work is part of a larger project that includes the potential fungicide resistance and ochratoxin production of the isolates, characteristics previously reported in some isolates of Aspergillus spp. Section Nigri.