MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF MARASMIUS OREADES - AN EDIBLE MUSHROOM FROM PAKISTAN BASED ON ITS-rDNA SEQUENCE DATA

Marasmius oreades is common edible species which has been collected from Himalayan moist forests of Pakistan. This species has been characterized on morphological and molecular basis. This study is first imitative to identify this species using morpho-taxonomical characteristics and sequencing of internal transcribed spacers (ITS). Taxonomically, this species was previously not described from Himalayan part of Pakistan. Earlier studies remained restricted to few macroscopic studies. Macrosopic characters like size, shape and colour of pileus, stipe and spore are compared in literature for its identification. The gene sequence of this sample thus obtained where BLAST and checked for homology searches using NCBI. The results depicted 99% homology of these samples with same species reported from other parts of the world. Maximum likelihood method of phylogenetic analysis also helps to separate it from closely related species.