ISOLATION AND MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF PHYTOPHTHORA INFESTANS (MONT.) DE BARY THE CAUSAL AGENTS OF POTATO LATE BLIGHT
Potato (Solanum tubersum L.) is an important crop in Iraq. Samples of potato plants infected with late blight were collected from potato fields in Nineveh Governorate, northern Iraq, during the autumn season of 2020. The causal agent being isolated and identified initially according to its morphological features utilizing hyphal and sporangial structures. According to cultural and morphological features, the pathogen was identified from the phenotypic diagnosis as Phytophthora infestans and the pathogen was confirmed by Koch's hypotheses. This was confirmed by the molecular identification test, methodology confirmed it. Molecular identification pathogen was performed via implementing transcribed internal spacer (ITS) conserved ribosomal region of DNA. All sequences as ITS proved homologous to isolates of P. infestans in database of GenBank at similarity % of 99. At Gen-Bank, Iraqi isolate was assigned as Accession No. : MZ675523.1. Up to our best knowledge, this is 1st molecular record of P. infestans on potato in Iraq.
Keywords: Late Blight Potato, Oospores, PCR.