Morphological and molecular characterisation of mycelia of ectomycorrhizal fungi in pure culture

Boletus edulis, Boletus aestivalis, Boletus luridus, Amanita muscaria and Hebeloma radicosum mycelia were isolated in pure culture and characterised by morphological and molecular methods. Molecular identification was performed by sequence analyses from the ITS region of nuclear ribosomal RNA genes. The phylogenetic affiliation of the isolated mycelia were evaluated by comparison of their ITS sequences with those deposited in the GenBank database. Pure cultures of isolates of the different fungal genera under investigation showed differences in growth rate, colony morphology and/or hyphal biometric characters. In contrast, the morphological characteristics of the mycelia of the three Boletus species were similar, but these species were distinguished by ITS data. Problems remain, however, in the affiliation of these ITS sequences with those of the B. edulis group that are currently deposited in public databases.