Genetic diversity of Fusarium pseudocircinatum in the central western region of Mexico: the case of big-leaf mahogany malformation disease

Fusarium pseudocircinatum is the main causal agent of big-leaf mahogany malformation disease (BLMMD) of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in Mexico. Although, BLMMD is the most important disease for this high-value timber species, there is a lack of information on the genetic variation present in geographically diverse isolates of F. pseudocircinatum. The objective of this study was to determine the genetic diversity of populations of F. pseudocircinatum causing BLMMD in the central western region of Mexico. A total of 611 big-leaf mahogany trees were inspected at eight sites in four states (Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco and Michoacán); of these, 42.7% showed malformation symptoms similar to those of BLMMD. Of 374 Fusarium isolates that were recovered, 277 were identified as F. pseudocircinatum, 56 were F. mexicanum, and 41 were Fusarium spp. An ISSR analysis of the F. pseudocircinatum isolates generated 51 bands of which 38 were polymorphic (76.8%) with a mean of 17 bands per primer. A total of 87 multilocus genotypes (MLGs) were identified. Nei’s genetic diversity analysis showed that the isolates had a high genetic diversity average (0.147), with values ranging from 0.070 to 0.365 depending of the geographical location. An analysis of molecular variance revealed that the variation within the populations was low (27.36%), while the variation within MLGs was significant (72.64%), indicating genetic flow. Overall, the genetic variability of F. pseudocircinatum populations was high and the MLGs from Colima (Colima) and Gabriel Zamora (Michoacán) were placed centrally, which possibly is evidence of ancestry and indicates its dispersion routes in the central western region of Mexico.