Abstract

Trichoderma species are morphologically very similar and were considered for many years as a single species. A new strain Trichoderma longibrachiatum 21PP was isolated from a rhizospheric soil sample collected from Kaushambi district of an Indian State (Uttar Pradesh). The universal primers (ITS-1& ITS-4) were used for the amplification of 28S rRNA gene fragment that produced a sharp band of about 700 bp on the gel. The amplified gene fragment was then sequenced (664 bp) and then deposited in GenBank with the Accession No. JX978542. Thus, the molecular identification of the specified strain enabled us for further characterization as this strain of Trichoderma species can be used as a biocontrol agent against pathogenic fungi such as Fusarium, Alternaria, Sclerotinia, etc. It is proposed that the identified strain T. longibrachiatum 21PP be assigned as the type strain of a species of the genus together with the 28S rRNA gene sequence search in Ribosomal Database Project, small subunit rRNA and large subunit rRNA databases.

Key words: 28S ribosomal RNA gene, Trichoderma, polymerase chain reaction, phylogenetic analysis, DNA isolation, DNA sequencing.