Diversidad genética de aislados de Ralstonia solanacearum de Cuba, mediante amplificación de las regiones repetitivas del genoma (REP-PCR).

The genetic diversity among 30 Cuban strains of Ralstonia solanacearum isolated from potato and tomato and belonging to biovars 1 and 2, was assessed by the repetitive sequence based polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR) method with ERIC primer sets. The method defined 11 genotypes from all the strains. The primary groupings obtained by cluster analysis corresponded with the strain biovar, while the subdivisions found within each group were related to the host from which the strains were obtained. Potato isolates showed a 37.2% similarity and the presence of specific variants within each biovar for each geographic region. Isolates from tomato showed a similarity of 71.3 % with the cross presence of the same genotype in different geographic regions and the incidence of different genetic variants in the same region. The Principal Component Analysis explained 81.32 % of isolate variability, which corroborated the groupings according to the host and biovar and allowed to establish relationships based on the geographic location. The differential distribution of the genetic diversity among Cuban R. solanacearum strains from potato and tomato crops may be useful information to establish specific measures to control the bacterial wilt disease in Cuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]