PJB-2025-243
MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR STUDY OF PHYTOPHTHORA INFESTANS ASSOCIATED WITH POTATO LATE BLIGHT IN PAKISTAN
Arsh Bibi
Abstract
Phytophthora infestans, the source of potato late blight, poses a danger to the world's potato crop, resulting in significant financial losses in contemporary agriculture and impairing farming in developing countries. In this work, isolates of P. infestans obtained from different fields at the National Agriculture Research Center (NARC) in Islamabad during the 2023 growing season were identified and characterized. Phytophthora infestans was isolated using pea agar and rye-A agar medium. For this research, seventy-two isolates of late blight were collected and separated from Solanum tuberosum leaves. The pathogenicity of isolates was determined by their capacity to induce disease and symptoms including yellowing, wilting, or plant death. Both morphological and molecular techniques were used in the identification procedure, including PCR directed at the ITS and PINF regions. Morphological analysis revealed characteristics such as terminal, semi-papillate sporangia that were caducous with short pedicels and non-proliferating sporangiophores, indicating a heterothallic nature. Molecular identification was confirmed using the IDphy online resource and the NCBI database, where the ITS sequences of the isolates showed a 99-100% match with known sequences of P. infestans in clade b. This research confirmed the presence of P. infestans in Pakistan for the first time using these methods and highlighted the pathogen's high genetic similarity to global strains. The research suggests the need for further studies to explore the variety of P. infestans populations within Pakistan further.
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