IDENTIFICATION OF FUNGI AND ANALYSIS OF T HEIR GENETIC DIVERSITY BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION (PCR) WITH GENE-SPECIFIC AND NONSPECIFIC PRIMERS

Modern molecular genetic methods for identification of fungi and analy sis of their diversity, based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with gene-specific and nonspecific (random) primers, are reviewed. Applicat ions of these PCR techniques are discussed on the basis of published d ata: and our experimental results. During our discussion of PCR with n onspecific primers, main attention is paid to PCR with universal prime rs (UP-PCR) and the PCR-based technique of random amplification of pol ymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR). Applications of PCR techniques are demonstrat ed for phytopathogenic fungi.