DETECTION OF GENETIC-POLYMORPHISM BY RAPD-PCR IN STRAINS OF THE ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGUS BEAUVERIA-BRONGNIARTII ISOLATED FROM THE EUROPEAN COCKCHAFER (MELOLONTHA SPP.)

Genetic polymorphism in strains of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauver ia brongniartii, isolated from it Melolontha melolontha and M. hippoca stani in different European sites, was investigated by RAPD-PCR. Strai ns of B. brongniartii isolated in Valle d'Aosta (Italy) were highly vi rulent to M. melolontha, and potential relatedness among these strains was investigated with RAPD markers obtained from 16 10-bp primers. Th is study shows that the strains analysed are closely related. The subd ivision of the European strains into subgroups, obtained from numerica l analyses of the data, does not appear to relate to either geographic al origin or host insect. Individual strain-specific patterns of RAPD bands were identified for 24 strains. The remaining four strains consi sted of two pairs, each of which showed identical RAPD patterns.