Mating type and fertility status in populations of Bipolaris sorokiniana, the causal agent of root and crown common rot of wheat in Iran

Root and crown common rotdisease caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana, has caused severe losses of wheat products worldwide. A collection of 147 monoconidial isolates was made from cultivated wheat in West Azerbaijan (Miyandoab), Golestan (Gorgan), Alborz (Karaj), Kermanshah (Kermanshah) and Fars (Shiraz) provinces in 2017-2018. After morphological and molecular identification, mating type primers were designed based on a conserved DNA binding (alpha domain) in MAT-1 and the high mobility group (HMG) domain in MAT-2. Frequency of mating type idiomorphs of B. sorokiniana isolates were done by multiplex PCR. Among 147 isolates of five population, 86 isolates amplified by MAT-1 primer and 61 isolates by MAT-2 primer. Frequencies of MAT-1 alleles in Shiraz and Gorgan populations was more than the MAT-2 alleles. According to the results of the Chi-square test (X2), Karaj, Kermanshah and Miyandoab populations had not significant difference (P<0.05). Therefore, these three populations have the highest potential for sexual reproduction than the otherthreepopulations. In addition, isolates from all of the populations were studied to evaluate the sexual fertility in vitro. After two months, pseudothecia without mature asci and ascospores formed in media.