Genetic diversity of Beauveria bassiana isolates in Hypothenemus hampei and Leucoptera coffeella populations in coffee

The Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) technique was used to assess the genetic diversity of B. bassiana isolates obtained from Hypothenemus hampei and Leucoptera coffeella from different regions in Nicaragua. A total of 48 isolates were analyzed using six primer combinations. Estimates of genetic similarities were obtained by the Dice coefficient, and a final dendrogram was constructed with the Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA) method. Principal Coordinate (PCO)analysis was performed to clasify the relationtship between isolates. Variation among and within regions, host and the year of collection was studied by Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA). The year of collection showed 67.2% of variance within groups (isolates collected in 2004, 2000 and 1988-1993)and 32.8% of variance among groups. Low levels of genetic differentiation were observed, indicating a high level of gene flow between the regions (Fst=0.15), host species (Fst=0.068) and the year of collection (Fst=0.328).