T. Burgess et al., VARIATION IN PISOLITHUS BASED ON BASIDIOME AND BASIDIOSPORE MORPHOLOGY, CULTURE CHARACTERISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF POLYPEPTIDES USING 1D SDS-PAGE, Mycological research, 99, 1995, pp. 1-13
One hundred Pisolithus isolates, 85 Australian and 15 non-Australian c
ollections, were compared and classified according to basidiospore and
basidiome morphology, cultural characteristics and separation of poly
peptides using ID SDS-PAGE. Basidiocarps were extremely varied and 13
types were recognized ranging in size from 2 to 20 an with various sti
pe types, peridium features and different coloured spore masses. Four
basidiospore types were recognized within Australia. These corresponde
d to a large group found Australia-wide, a smaller group found through
out south-western Australia and two small groups confined to single lo
cations. Seven culture types were described, ranging from submerged, s
low growing colonies to aerial, fast growing colonies. 1D SDS-PAGE of
all Pisolithus isolates identified 30 soluble polypeptides between 24
and 43 kDa that were used to group the isolates using a numerical taxo
nomic analysis. Basidiospore groups were readily discernible within th
e polypeptide groups. In addition, analysis of the polypeptide pattern
s alone or in combination with basidiospore and culture characteristic
s, resulted in groups that corresponded to host species and geographic
location. These observations were further demonstrated by an ordinati
on using the multi-dimensional scaling procedure. One cluster was comp
osed of all the non-Australian isolates collected beneath Pinus, whils
t within Australia, isolates from the eastern, southern and western se
aboards fell into distinct clusters. These studies indicate that pheno
typic analysis of polypeptide patterns can provide a meaningful classi
fication system to assist in isolate selection for future experiments.