VARIATION IN PISOLITHUS BASED ON BASIDIOME AND BASIDIOSPORE MORPHOLOGY, CULTURE CHARACTERISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF POLYPEPTIDES USING 1D SDS-PAGE

One hundred Pisolithus isolates, 85 Australian and 15 non-Australian collections, were compared and classified according to basidiospore and basidiome morphology, cultural characteristics and separation of polypeptides using ID SDS-PAGE. Basidiocarps were extremely varied and 13 types were recognized ranging in size from 2 to 20 an with various stipe types, peridium features and different coloured spore masses. Four basidiospore types were recognized within Australia. These corresponded to a large group found Australia-wide, a smaller group found throughout south-western Australia and two small groups confined to single locations. Seven culture types were described, ranging from submerged, slow growing colonies to aerial, fast growing colonies. 1D SDS-PAGE of all Pisolithus isolates identified 30 soluble polypeptides between 24 and 43 kDa that were used to group the isolates using a numerical taxonomic analysis. Basidiospore groups were readily discernible within the polypeptide groups. In addition, analysis of the polypeptide patterns alone or in combination with basidiospore and culture characteristics, resulted in groups that corresponded to host species and geographic location. These observations were further demonstrated by an ordination using the multi-dimensional scaling procedure. One cluster was composed of all the non-Australian isolates collected beneath Pinus, whilst within Australia, isolates from the eastern, southern and western seaboards fell into distinct clusters. These studies indicate that phenotypic analysis of polypeptide patterns can provide a meaningful classification system to assist in isolate selection for future experiments.