utilized in this study are given in Table Table1.1. Seventeen strains were tested in RFLP analysis of mtDNA and ITS sequencing and were also used in confrontation assays in vitro against phytopathogenic fungi. All of the sequences corresponding to strains represented in Table Table11 were included in phylogenetic analysis based on the ITS1 sequence.
Cultures were maintained on potato dextrose agar (PDA) (Difco) at 25°C, and mycelia for DNA extraction were grown in liquid cultures (120 rpm) at 25°C in potato dextrose broth (PDB) (Difco) for 48 h. Hyphae were collected on filter paper in a Buchner funnel, washed with distilled water, frozen, and lyophilized. Genomic DNA was extracted using the method of Raeder and Broda (31). DNA was resuspended in 50 μl of 10 mM Tris–1 mM EDTA (pH 8) and quantified by use of ethidium bromide fluorescence (35).