Molecular characterization of fungi associated with stored soybean (Glycine max L) seeds

Soybean is an important legume that has high quality protein and oil for food and feed. Despite the importance of this legume, the crop is affected by several post-harvest diseases caused by fungi. A study was carried out to identify the fungal species associated with the seeds of soybean using molecular techniques. The DNA of the isolate, was molecularly characterized using Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 (ITS-1) molecular marker. The isolate DNA sequence, was aligned using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool for nucleotide (BLASTN) 2.8.0 version of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. The results showed that the isolate sequence was 98% identical to Diaporthe spp. Voucher VP51, 98% identical to Diaporthe schini isolate L5N71 and 98% identical to Diaporthe schini strain B125. These findings showed that Diaporthe spp. is one of the causal fungal pathogens of post-harvest diseases of soybean seeds. It is anticipated that these results will provide information on culturing Diaporthe species also provide the basis for further study to show their antibiotic and anti-cancerous, enzymes and secondary metabolites producing ability. Keywords: Soybean, Diaporthe schini and RBCL marker