Identity and conservation of mating type genes in geographically diverse isolates of Phaeosphaeria nodorum.

Mating type idiomorphs (MAT1-1 and MAT1-2) were identified from the heterothallic loculoascomycete Phaeosphaeria nodorum (wheat biotype) using DNA from a pair of isolates from Poland and Georgia, USA that are known to mate. MAT predicted proteins of P. nodorum are similar in sequence and in phylogenetic relationship to those described for other loculoascomycetes such as Cochliobolus spp., Alternaria alternata, and Didymella zeae-maydis. The organization of the MAT locus of the P. nodorum differs from these species in that its idiomorph begins within an adjacent upstream conserved ORF of unknown function. MAT-specific primers were used to identify isolates of both mating types in field populations, demonstrating that an absence of either mating type is not the reason that the teleomorph has not been found in New York. Portions of MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 were sequenced from geographically diverse isolates, including those from regions where the teleomorph has been reported. MAT was highly conserved and no significant differences in sequence were found.