La. Castrillo et al., Genetic variation in Beauveria bassiana populations associated with the darkling beetle, Alphitobius diaperinus, J INVER PAT, 73(3), 1999, pp. 269-275
A study was conducted to assess genetic variation within and among populati
ons of Beauveria bassiana (Deuteromycotina: Hyphomycetes) associated with t
he darkling beetle, Alphitobius diaperinus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), usi
ng RAPD markers. A hierarchical collection of samples (strains from the sam
e insect specimen, from insects from the same location, and from insects fr
om different locations) was obtained from infected beetles from North Carol
ina (NC) and West Virginia (WV), USA. Ten primers resolved 81 strains into
80 distinct multiband phenotypes reflecting the substantial amount of varia
tion that was present, Variation present within populations was evident not
only in the separation of each strain as a distinct multiband phenotype bu
t also in the separation of strains within a population into separate clust
ers, Among populations, a group sharing more than 89% similarity was observ
ed among all the strains from Martin Co. and Greene Co., NC and 61% of the
strains collected from WV. Some genetic differentiation was present among t
he other populations but the separation was not distinct with a few strains
from some populations showing greater affinity to strains from other colle
ction sites. (C) 1999 Academic Press.