MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF FUNGI ASSOCIATED TO Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch EXPLANTS PRODUCED in vitro

Abstract

The explants of poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch) produced in vitro in Morelos, México, have problems with phytopathogen fungi, and although the method of explant disinfection is designed to eliminate saprophyte microorganisms of the tissue surface, some resist this process and are transmitted to the seedlings during the acclimation phase. The fungi associated to Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch seedlings produced in vitro were identified molecularly, the seedlings were acclimated in greenhouses; they were sampled during the last ten days and 20 plants were collected with blighted patches, from which four fungi strains were isolated for their molecular identification in a PDA growth medium; the isolates were amplified through the PCR technique, sequenced and analyzed with Chromas Lite®, and aligned with BLAST from the GenBank of the USA’s National Center for Biotechnology Information. The fungi associated to seedlings presented 100 % of similarity with Fusarium solani, Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium equiseti.