Intraspecific functional and genetic diversity of Petriella setifera

Petriella setifera is poorly-known species with only fragmentary information in literature and with published partial genome about the fungal species. Therefore, the aim of the study was an analysis of the intraspecific genetic and functional diversity of new isolated fungal species of P. setifera. From the molecular biological viewpoint, the intraspecific variability was found through the Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism analysis (AFLP). The analysis showed a good variability among the analysed isolates, which was demonstrated by the clear subdivision of all the isolates into two clusters with 51% and 62% of similarity, respectively. For the metabolic diversity, the BIOLOG system was used and this analysis revealed clear different patterns on the carbon substrates utilization between the isolates bringing a clear separation of the five isolates into three clusters with 0%, 42% and 54% of similarity, respectively. These two techniques allowed estimation of the intraspecific variability within the five isolates of P. setifera strains. Both the methodologies are two easy and rapid techniques to indicate the genetic and functional variability at the intraspecific level within the species, especially, if a biological and functional information about the analysed fungal strains are limited.