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Abstract
Isolates of Tilletia goloskokovii infecting Apera interrupta collected in the Pacific Northwest were characterized and compared to the T. fusca complex and related taxa. The previous known distribution of T. goloskokovii is based on one collection from Kazakhstan; the 24 isolates from the Pacific Northwest represent the first report of this species in North America. Comparison of teliospore morphology, host range, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) of the ITS region showed that T. goloskokovii is distinct from the European species, T. separata, the only other smut fungus infecting an Apera host. Mean length, width, depth of reticulations and meshes per teliospore diameter were significantly different between T. separata and T. goloskokovii. RAPD analysis indicated that T. goloskokovii is more similar to T. separata than to the T. fusca complex. Two major clusters were separated in the dendrogram based on RAPD analysis, one cluster with isolates of T. controversa, brome-infecting varieties of T. fusca, and the Apera-infecting isolates, and a second cluster with Vulpia-infecting isolates of T. fusca. Tilletia sphaerococca and T. menieri, morphologically similar but distinct taxa, were compared to T. separata and T. goloskokovii. The importance of considering host specificity and molecular characters in addition to morphological characters in delimiting discrete taxa in the genus Tilletia is discussed.