ITS and RAPD analyses were used to investigate molecular variations within samples of Paecilomyces isolates and to resolve five morphologically atypical isolates resembling P. fumosorosus, obtained from whitefly in Northern Paraná State. The ITS4-ITS5 amplicon was 700 base pairs (bp) long in all isolates. The five isolates of Paecilomyces not assigned to species produced restriction profiles identical to all the reference strains of P. fumosoroseus. The extent of fingerprint variability observed by RAPD was sufficient to discriminate all the isolates. The genetic similarity among unidentified isolates and strains of P. fumosoroseus was even higher than that observed among reference strains of this species, allowing us to conclude that isolates CNPso-P77, CNPso-P78, CNPso-P80, CNPso-P85 and CNPso-P91 are P. fumosoroseus.
Paecilomyces fumosoroseus; Bemisia; RAPD; biological control; entomopathogenic fungus