Isolation and Molecular Identification of some Fungi Associated with Jatropha curcas (L.)

Jatropha curcas is a plant of great economic importance that experiences high incidence of fungal attack. Misidentification of the fungal species is bound to occur with the use of traditional cultural methods where organisms are identified morphologically and/or microscopically. This study was carried out to isolate and identify the fungi associated with Jatropha curcas (L.) using both traditional/ cultural techniques and molecular methods. The fungi were isolated from diseased leaves and stems of J. curcas using both Standard Blotter and Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) methods. DNA was extracted from the fungal isolates using Zymo Fungal/Bacteria DNA MiniPrep Kit. Amplification of the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) regions of the fungal isolates was carried out using fungi universal primer pairs for ITS4 and ITS5. The amplicons were sequenced and the isolates were identified as Penicillium brevicompactum, Aspergillus sp., Botryosphaeria rhodina, Aspergillus nomius, Aspergillus tamarii, Rhizopus oryzae, Penicillium citrinum and Fusarium solani. Phylogenetic analysis was carried out to know the relationship between the isolates and other closely-related species in GenBank. Jatropha curcas is colonized by many fungal species some of which may be pathogenic to the plant, and molecular techniques pose the best alternative for accurate identification of these organisms.