Genetic Diversity and Pathogenicity Variation in Rhizoctonia solani Isolates from Rice in Sichuan Province, China

Fifty-five representative samples of Rhizoctonia solani isolates, which were collected and isolated from five different ecological regions in Sichuan Province, China, were purified and analyzed for the pathogenicity and molecular genetic variation. The hyphal fusion test revealed that almost all the isolates belonged to the AG-IIA group except the isolate D42. In addition, some of the isolates were ‘bridging isolates’, which could fuse with several groups simultaneously. The pathogenicity analysis on in vitro leaves confirmed a significant pathogenicity variation in the tested isolates. The 55 isolates were then classified into 8 groups by further RAPD (randomly amplified polymorphic DNA) cluster analysis at the similarity coefficient of 0.941. The results suggest that under the certain ecological conditions in Sichuan Province, China, most of the R. solani strains were genetically stable, but a few changed drastically.