Molecular cloning of a widely distributed microsatellite core sequence from the cultivated mushroom Agaricus bisporus

AB: A repeated sequence containing a microsatellite core sequence was found and characterized in the A. bisporus genome. A 16-mer oligonucleotide (TATG)4 primer based on this microsatellite core sequence led to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products generated by directed amplification of microsatellite-region DNA (DAMD). The DAMD-PCR products allowed the study of the distribution of microsatellite in the genome of four distinct A. bisporus industrial strains (SC 940205, SC 960401, SC 930503, and SC970301), A. bisporus H97 line, and Pleurotus species (P. pulmonarius SC 920542, P. sajor-caju SC 971206 and P. florida SC 971203). The study demonstrated the reproducibility of the patterns obtained with the DAMD-PCR products by the lack of variation between the patterns obtained with 2 DNA extracts of each strain. Hence, the TATG4 16-mer primer is useful not only as a marker of the A. bisporus genome, allowing an estimation of interstrain variability, but also as a reliable and easy fingerprinting method for wild and industrial A. bisporus strains. This is thought to be the first microsatellite reported in cultivated edible mushrooms