Identification of Pratylenchus Coffeae and P. Loosi Using Specific Primers for PCR Amplification of Ribosomal DNA

The 18-26S region of rDNA of P. coffeae and P. loosi were amplified by PCR from genomic DNA. Sequence analyses indicated that the 5.8S gene sequences were conserved whereas the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences were divergent. Sequence differences in the ITS were used to synthesize specific primer sets to differentiate P. coffeae and P. loosi. PCR assays with these primers specifically amplified a characteristic DNA fragment from each species. Moreover, the same specific amplification products were obtained using DNA extracted from single females males or juveniles.