Genotyping of Ganoderma species by improved random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis

• Improved RAPD combined with ISSR have been used to characterize Ganoderma species.
• RAPD amplified 316 DNA bands with 93% polymorphism & 0.52–0.74 similarity coefficiency.
• ISSR analysis showed similar results of RAPD with 0.49–0.81 similarity coefficiency.
• This study reports the high level of genetic differences between Ganoderma strains.

Species of Ganoderma are used in traditional medicines. An improved random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis, where the RAMP time is prolonged, has been used to characterize the genetic variation in some well known species of Ganoderma. The DNA materials were collected from ten Ganoderma strains, amplified with randomly selected 24 RAPD primers and evaluated by agarose gel electrophoresis. A cluster dendrogram was constructed for genetic analysis on the basis of amplification results. The improved RAPD amplified DNA with consistent and clear banding patterns. A total of 316 bands were found with 93% polymorphism. There was a significant genetic distance between the different strains of Ganoderma, with an index of similarity coefficient in the range of 0.52–0.74. The inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis of the Ganoderma DNA samples showed similar trend results to the RAPD analysis with 0.49–0.81 similarity coefficients. This study reports the high level of genetic differences between different species or strains of a single species of Ganoderma and confirms the significance of the improved RAPD method in genetic characterization of organisms. Therefore, the improved RAPD combined with ISSR techniques might be used for the genetic characterization of organisms.