Molecular Identification of Fungi Isolated from Root of Broad Bean (<i>Vicia faba</i> L.) Infected with Rot Root Disease

Background and Aim: Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is an inseparable part of the Iraqi people's food basket.Root rot disease is one of the pests causing great losses to crops.The study aimed to determine the molecular characterization of the root rot fungi isolated from the roots of broad beans in Maysan Governorate, southern Iraq.Materials and Methods: Eight species of root rot fungi were isolated and subjected to DNA extraction and PCR assays.The sequences were submitted to GenBank and deposited using the assigned accession numbers. Results:The study showed a match between phenotypic and molecular identification.All tested isolates produced fragments of 500-700 bp.The isolates' sequences showed 98.40 to 100% matching to the reference strain sequences in GenBank.Myrothecium (M.) inundatum and Mucor (M.) fragilis showed 100% identity and Corynascus (C.) sepedonium, Fusarium (F.) oxysporum and Fusarium (F.) solani presented more than 99% identity.The strain C. sepedonium showed 100% identity with MZ203485.1 reference strain.The F. oxysporum indicated 100% similarity with several strains such as OR879163.1 and OR879157.1.The F. solani showed 100% similarity with MN857747.1 and MT509567.1 strains.Macrophomina (M.) phaseolina was the closest to MT127390.1 strain.The M. fragilis showed 100% identity with many reference strains.M. inundatum revealed 100% similarity with both OP761606.1 and MK024176.1 strains, and Ovatospora (O.) pseudomollicella indicated 100% similarity with MW251835.1 and MW242833.1 strains.Rhizoctonia (R.) solani showed 100% similarity with many strains such as AF153786 and MH014991.1. Conclusion:The PCR-RFLP assay is a favorable method for identification of the fungi causative of the root rot disease in accompany with phenotypic identification.