Abstract:
Ascochyta species cause blights on a number of wild and cultivated cool?season legume hosts, including
chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), faba bean (Vicia faba L.), lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.), pea (Pisum sativum L.),
and vetches (Vicia spp.). Ascochyta blight of faba bean and lentil are caused by the host?specific fungi A.
fabae Speg. and A. lentisVassiljevsky, respectively. Identification of these species has been primarily based
on host specificity because they are morphologically indistinguishable (Gossen et al.1986). Previous studies
have demonstrated that each species have distinct RAPD?PCR banding patterns (Kaiser et al. 1997), and
each form a monophyletic group in a combined phylogeny estimated from glyceraldehyde?3?phospatedehydrogenease
(G3PD), translation elongation factor alpha (EF), and chitin synthase (CHS) genes (Peever
et al. 2007). No additional fast?evolving markers have been identified for these fungi that would facilitate
research at the population/species interface. Therefore, the objective of this research was to develop
sequence characterized anonymous region (SCAR) markers for identification of A. fabae and A. lentis, for
estimating genetic variation within and among species, and for inferring phylogenetic relationships.