ИСТИНА

Data on morphological and molecular characterization of the two cultivated oyster mushroom species, P. sajor-caju and P.pulmonarius are presented. These species are very similar in morphology and substrate specificity. However, species identity for P.sajor-caju is still under discussion. Some researchers believe P.sajor-caju is a synonym of the species P.pulmonarius while the others consider P.sajor-caju as a separate species. The purpose of the research was to solve the intricacy of P.sajor-caju species. We employed two approaches in the analysis – molecular and conventional crossing. Molecular analysis of the variable ITS and IGS regions of the rRNA genes cluster did not allow to differentiate reliably between morphologically similar species P. pulmonarius and P. sajor-caju as well as to confirm species identity for P. sajor-caju strains CS-32, H-1, H-2. Sexual (mating) compatibility between haploid tester strains of these two species as performed in mon-mon crossing experiments demonstrated complete reproductive isolation between P. pulmonarius and P. sajor-caju species and, therefore, their separate species identity.