Identification of Rhizoctonia solani isolates from sugar beet roots by analyzing the ITS region of ribosomal DNA

Rhizoctonia solani (Kühn) is one of the most important sugar beet pathogens Rhizoctonia solani anastomosis groups (AGs) 2-2 and 4 are proven to be the most common pathogenic strains on sugar beet. AG 2-2 (intraspecific groups IIIB and IV) can cause root and crown rot while damping-off of seedlings is most frequently attributed to AG 4. Four isolates of R. solani from sugar beet roots showing characteristic crown and root rot symptoms, collected from different localities in Vojvodina Province, were chosen and compared to the well-characterized R. solani isolate R9, AG 2-2 IV, from the USA. All Vojvodinian isolates showed medium level of pathogenicity and were able to cause crown and root rot symptoms on inoculated sugar beet roots. Based on anastomosis reaction, isolates from Vojvodina did not belong to the AG 2-2 group. Sequencing of the ITS (internal transcribed spacer) region of ribosomal DNA was performed on the Vojvodinian isolates from R9 in order to determine their relatedness. Sequence analysis showed that these isolates were different than R9 and were closely related (99-100% sequence homology) to anastomosis group 4, subgroup HG II