Clonality in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum on Infected Cabbage in Eastern North Carolina

ABSTRACT Eighty-four isolates of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum from four cabbage production fields in North Carolina and 16 isolates from an experimental cabbage field plot in Louisiana were DNA-fingerprinted and tested for mycelial compatibility. In a comparison with 594 unique DNA fingerprints of S. sclerotiorum from Canadian canola, no fingerprints were shared among Canadian, North Carolina, and Louisiana populations. DNA fingerprints from the North Carolina sample were distinctive from those of the Canadian and Louisiana samples, with significantly more hybridizing fragments in the 7.7- to 18-kilobase range. Forty-one mycelial compatibility groups (MCGs) and 50 unique DNA fingerprints were identified from the North Carolina sample. Three MCGs and three fingerprints were identified from the Louisiana sample. From the North Carolina sample, 32 MCGs were each associated with a unique fingerprint; of these, there were 11 clones (i.e., cases in which two or more isolates belonged to the same MCG and shared the same DNA fingerprint). Six clones sampled from two or more fields represented approximately 29% of the total sample (24 of 84 isolates), with six clones recovered from fields 75 km apart. There were 10 cases in which one MCG was associated with more than one DNA fingerprint and two cases in which one DNA fingerprint was associated with more than one MCG. The small sample from Louisiana was strictly clonal. The North Carolina sample had a clonal component, but deviated from one-to-one association of MCG with DNA fingerprint to an extent consistent with more recombination or transposition than the other two populations sampled.