Specific Primers For Identification and Detection of Three Major Desert Truffle Species in Iran with Special Reference to Terfezia claveryi

MOSTOWFIZADEH-GHALAMFARSA, R.; BANIHASHEMI, Z.; JAMALI, S.

doi:10.22099/iar.2014.2379

Specific Primers For Identification and Detection of Three Major Desert Truffle Species in Iran with Special Reference to Terfezia claveryi

Document Type : Full Article

Authors

Shiraz University

10.22099/iar.2014.2379

Abstract

ABSTRACT- Desert truffles are hypogeous ascomyceteous ectomycorrhizal fungi, occurring in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. A PCR-based method was developed for the identification of 3 major desert truffles of Iran: Terfezia claveryi, Tirmania pinoyi and Tirmania nivea based on internal transcribed spacers of rDNA. Two specific PCR primers were designed for T. claveryi, 4 for T. pinoyi, and 2 for T. nivea. All primers were specific to their homologous species and neither set amplified purified DNA from other truffle species or soil-borne micromycetes. In conventional PCR, the limits of detection were 10-500 pg DNA. ITS-Tfc1 primers detected the species in host tissues using a nested-PCR method by ITS1 and ITS4 universal primers as external set.

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