Characterization of microsatellite loci in the fungus, Grosmannia clavigera, a pine pathogen associated with the mountain pine beetle.

The largest forest pest epidemic in Canadian history caused by the mountain pine beetle (MPB) and its fungal associates has killed over 15 million hectares of forest. Sixty simple sequence repeat regions were identified from Grosmannia clavigera, an MPB associated fungus. Eight loci genotyped in 53 isolates from two populations in British Columbia, Canada revealed three to 10 alleles per locus and gene diversities of 0 to 0.79. All but two of these loci showed length polymorphism in Leptographium longiclavatum, a related MPB fungal associate. These microsatellites will be useful in population genetic studies of these fungi.