Characterisation and identification of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi species by PCR/RFLP analysis of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS)

The polymerase chain reaction coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PCR/RFLP) was applied to distinguish arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) species from an impacted semiarid soil. The ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region was amplified with the primers ITS1 and ITS4 and the products of amplification were digested with the restriction enzymes HinfI, MboI and AluI. The obtained banding pattern, except for the AluI, allowed the distinction at the molecular level of the AMF species: Paraglomus occultum, Glomus mosseae, Glomus intraradices and Glomus etunicatum. The results showed that this technique has a potential to be used as a marker to differentiate AMF species with high phylogenetic affinity.