Microsatellite Genotyping in the Chestnut Blight Fungus Cryphonectria parasitica

This chapter describes the use of polymorphic microsatellite (simple sequence repeats, SSR) markers for genotyping isolates of Cryphonectria parasitica, the causal agent of chestnut blight. The SSR presented are particularly useful to characterize the genetic population structure of this invasive fungal pathogen, including invasion history (e.g., possible source population, introduced genotypes) and reproduction mode (sexual vs. asexual). Microsatellite markers can also be used to track fungal strains in laboratory and field experiments.