Strawberry anthracnose is becoming increasingly important from both scientific and economic perspectives. The Colletotrichum spp. pathogen complex includes C. fragariae, C. gloeosporioides, and C. acutatum. The aim was to use microsatellite (SSR) markers to assess the genetic diversity of Colletotrichum species. Researchers used seven SSR primer pairs previously developed for the C. acutatum (3) and C. gloeosporioides (4) species. To analyze the genetic diversity of C. fragariae, it was found that SSR primer pairs developed for C. gloeosporioides were helpful. SSR molecular markers were used in this study for the first time to identify the species of C. fragariae. The average polymorphism information content (PIC) value across all SSR primer pairs was 0.72, indicating that they are all informative. The most informative SSR primers were CG22 and CG30, with PIC values of 0.83 and 0.82, respectively. Researchers believe these primers are suitable for the genetic diversity analysis of C. fragariae species. Therefore, the SSR primer pairs CG20 and CG30 are recommended for the genetic investigation of C. acutatum and C. gloeosporioides. A higher incidence of Colletotrichum spp. polymorphism in Lithuania can be linked to adaptation to survival in our environment, according to this study's findings on the number of alleles and the degree of genetic diversity, which are higher than the results reported in the literature.
Morkeliūnė, A.; Rasiukevičiūtė, N.; Frercks, B.; Bendokas, V.; Antanynienė, R.; Mažeikienė, I.; Vaštakaitė-Kairienė, V.; Karklelienė, R.; Valiuškaitė, A. Evaluation of Strawberry Colletotrichum spp. Genetic Diversity in Lithuania. Agronomy 2025, 15, 720. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15030720
Source: MDPI