TABLE CONTENTS

Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Rotylenchulus reniformis
Populations Occurring in China
Zhang, Y. & J. Zhenh
Institute of Biotechnology, College of Agriculture & Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029,
P.R.China
Reniform nematodes (Rotylenchulus spp.) are semi-endoparasites of roots and occur
commonly in tropical and subtropical regions. One of the most economically important
species in the genus is Rotylenchulus reniformis, which has widest geographical distribution
and host range. The present research provided some morphological and molecular data of
R.reniformis populations from three geographical different provinces, Hainan, Zhejiang and
Chongqing, in China. All the populations are amphimictic, and the hosts include banana,
corn, tomato, pumpkin, soybean, and pimiento, pepper, cabbage, carrot, etc. The morphology
and morphometrics of males and immature females of typical populations were observed and
measured, respectively. All the populations have similar morphology and some variability in
morphometrics was detected. Sequencing of ITS region of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was
compared among populations from different province of China. Amplification of rDNA-ITS
region yielded a single PCR fragment of approximately 800 bp (including primers) for each
of the typically populations of R. reniformis from China. ITS sequencing enabled to be made
of molecular intraspecific polymorphism in R. reniformis in which two ITS types were
detected, type A, which only has 2 bp differences for most of the populations from Hainan,
and type B, which has 3 bp differences and was typical for the population from Zhejiang and
Chongqing, but there are 53 bp differences between the two ITS types. This is the first report
of molecular studies with Chinese reniform nematode populations, and it provides some
information from which, a robust molecular diagnostic protocol can only be developed if
based on examination of more populations from widely disparate geographic origins.
5 th International Congress of Nematology, 2008 335