Genotypic variations among isolates of Marasmius quercophilus, a white-rotfungus isolated from evergreen oak litter

Marasmius quercophilus is a white-rot basidiomycete isolated from evergreen oak litter. This fungus plays an extensive role in litter degradation beca use of its cellulase, pectinase, and laccase production. Our objective was to investigate the potential genotypic polymorphism of this species using R APD (random amplified polymorphic DNA) and the amplification and the sequen cing of fragments ITS (internal transcribed spacer) from the rRNA repeat. A n intraspecies polymorphism was observed for the M. quercophilus isolates s tudied as suggested by the tree found with RAPD data: seven subgroups were defined. The minimum similarity coefficient observed in these groups was 0. 278. The sizes of fragments ITS 1 and ITS 2 were the same for each isolate (ITS 1: 320 bp and ITS 2: 450 bp), and the percentages of nucleotide variat ion were 1.25 and 1.11%, respectively. Few isolates from the studied popula tion had the same RAPD pattern that would suggest a clonal development in s ome zones of the site of La Gardiole.