Received 25 November 2011 / Accepted 28 December 2011 Folia Forestalia Polonica, series A, 2012, Vol. 54 (1), 25–31 ORIGINAL ARTICLE First records of Phytophthora spp. based on DNA analysis in Lithuania Adomas Vitas 1 , Tomasz Oszako 2 , Justyna A. Nowakowska 3 , Katarzyna Sikora 2 and Antanina Stankevičienė 4 1 Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Nature Sciences, Environmental Research Centre, Ž.E. Žilibero 2, LT-46324 Kaunas, Lithuania, e-mail: a.vitas@gmf.vdu.lt 2 Forest Research Institute, Department of Forest Protection, Sękocin Stary, Braci Leśnej 3, 05-090 Raszyn, Poland 3 Forest Research Institute, Department of Silviculture and Genetics, Sękocin Stary, Braci Leśnej 3, 05-090 Raszyn, Poland 4 Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas Botanical Garden, Ž.E. Žilibero 6, LT-46324 Kaunas, Lithuania ABSTRACT The assessment of alien invasive species of Phytophthora genus causing serious forest tree species diseases was carried out in Lithuania. The presence of Phytophthora DNA was recorded for the irst time using real-time PCR analysis on 23 DNA samples. The sampling included wood from diseased trees, leaves from shrubs, leaves baited in water, and soil samples taken around diseased plants. Extracted DNA from soil and plant tissues was tested for the presence of Phytophthora. All analysed samples were positively recognized by Phytophthora-speciic probe during real-time PCR which proved the presence of pathogens in environmental samples. KEY WORDS Oomycetes, alien invasive species, environmental samples, Phytophthora speciic DNA probes, baiting, qPCR INTRODUCTION Phytophthora is plant-damaging genus belonging to Oomycetes which are capable to cause enormous eco- nomic losses of crops, as well as environmental damage in natural ecosystems. The Phytophthora became wide- ly known after 1875, when a new pathogenic agent of potato late blight disease was identiied (Bourke 1991). In response to the Irish potato famine the plant patho- logy was born (Erwin and Ribeiro 2005). So far, more than 100 Phytophthora species have been described and it is likely that worldwide 200– 600 species exist being still unknown (Brasier 2009). In 1999, eleven from ca. 55 known species (20%) were considered to be damaging factors to forests and na- tural ecosystems. However, this proportion changed drastically after the year 2000 and the number of spe- cies recognized as potentially damaging tree increased up to 60% (Brasier 2009). It was shown that decline of many forest tree species in Europe and other con- tinents was connected with pathogenic Phytophthora acting as inciting factor (Erwin and Ribeiro 2005; Jung et al. 2009). Therefore, there is an urgent need to assess the spread of already known Phytophthora spe-