CHARACTERIZATION OF THE GENOME OF SCLEROSPORA-GRAMINICOLA, THE CAUSALFUNGUS OF DOWNY MILDEW OF PEARL-MILLET

A genomic library of the most virulent pathotype path-6 (7042S) of Scl erospora the causal fungus of graminicola, downy mildew in pearl mille t, was constructed in the lambda gt11 vector. Repetitive DNA content w as estimated at about 8% based on colony hybridization of total fungal DNA with a genomic library. Digestion with isoschizomeric methylation -sensitive restriction enzymes revealed partial methylation of GATC an d CCGG sequences in the genome. The presence of retrotransposable elem ents in the genome was detected by amplification of part of the revers e transcriptase gene in a PCR reaction, using a specific set of primer s designed for the conserved region.