INTRASPECIFIC AND INTERSPECIFIC VARIABILITY IN GLOBODERA, PARASITES OF SOLANACEOUS PLANTS, REVEALED BY RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA (RAPD) AND CORRELATION WITH BIOLOGICAL FEATURES

Inter-and intraspecific variability among species of Globodera parasit es of Solanaceae plants, were studied by host range and RAPD. Host ran ge was studied among Nicotiana species and cultivars within G. tabacum sensu lato. RAPD was applied to 26 populations belonging to six putat ive Globodera species. Host range revealed clear differences allowing grouping in accordance with pathogenicity or virulence. 222 RAPD marke rs were obtained using eight ten bases Operon primers (OPG-1, OPG-2, O PG-3, OPG-4-OPG-5, OPL-3, OPL-4, OPL-6). Different clustering programs and a principal coordinate analysis were performed with RAPD data sho wing very few differences in the results. These dendrograms clearly re vealed the existence of four OTU or species as G. rostochiensis, G. pa llida, G. tabacum and G. ''mexicana''. The clustering of these species was identical with that obtained previously with ribosomal DNA cistro n ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacers) restriction analysis. Furthermore , the intraspecific clusterings were in very good accordance with host range grouping and with the hybridisation results published previousl y.