Rhizoctonia blight is a common and serious disease of many turfgrass species. The most widespread causal agent, Thanatephorus cucumeris (anamorph: R. solani), consists of several genetically different subpopulations. In addition, Waitea circinata varieties zeae, oryzae and circinata (anamorph: Rhizoctonia spp.) also can cause the disease. Accurate identification of the causal pathogen is import...

The form genus Rhizoctonia D.C. is regarded as a heterogeneous assemblage of filamentous fungal taxa that do not produce asexual spores and share a number of common features in their anamorphic states (Garcia et al. 2006). It includes several of the most devastating crop pathogens such as Rhizoctonia solani Kühn [teleomorph = Thanatephorus cucumeris (A.B. Frank) Donk]. In the absence of a perfe...

Isolates from closely related fungi in the Rhizoctonia species complex were examined for the occurrence of the M2 double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) by amplifying a conserved 1000 nucleotide region of the dsRNA with reverse transcription PCR. The M2 dsRNA was detected in representative isolates belonging to three anastomosis groups (AG) of R. solani (AG-1-IA, AG-4 and AG-6; teleomorph = Thanatephorus)...

Rhizoctonia solani (Teleomorph: Thanatephorus cucumeris, T. praticola) is a basidiomycetous fungus and a major cause of root diseases of economically important plants. Various isolates of this fungus are also beneficially associated with orchids, may serve as biocontrol agents or remain as saprophytes with roles in decaying and recycling of soil organic matter. R. solani displays several hyphal...

A rapid identification assay for Waitea circinata (anamorph: Rhizoctonia spp.) varieties zeae and circinata causing patch diseases on turfgrasses was developed based on the universally primed PCR (UP-PCR) products cross-blot hybridization. Tester isolates belonging to the two varieties of W. circinata were amplified with a single UP primer L21, which generated multiple DNA fragments for each va...