AFLP-PCR and RAPD-PCR evidences of the transmission of the pathogen Aphanomyces astaci (Oomycetes) to wild populations of European crayfish from the invasive crayfish species, Procambarus clarkii Svetlana REZINCIUC a , Javier GALINDO b , Joan MONTSERRAT c , Javier DI  EGUEZ-URIBEONDO a, * a Departamento de Micolog  ıa, Real Jard  ın Bot anico CSIC, Plaza de Murillo 2, 28014 Madrid, Spain b EGMASA, Junta de Andaluc  ıa, Granada, Spain c Parc Natural de la Zona Volc anica de la Garrotxa, Departament d’Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca, Alimentaci o i Medi Natural, Casal dels Volcans, Av. Santa Coloma, s/n, 17800 Olot, Girona, Spain article info Article history: Received 23 June 2013 Received in revised form 10 October 2013 Accepted 16 October 2013 Corresponding Editor: Prof. Pieter van West Keywords: Adaptations Disease transmission Genetic diversity Epidemiology Fingerprinting Parasites abstract Aphanomyces astaci (Oomycetes) is responsible for the crayfish plague disease. This species is endemic of North America and five genotypes have been described using RAPD-PCR. The red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, is one of the most widely spread North American species and invasive in the world. However, no outbreaks on its specific genotype, i.e., genotype D, have ever been described in nature. We investigated three major series of crayfish plague outbreaks in indigenous crayfish populations of Austropotamobius pallipes, located in the areas of influence of P. clarkii. All samples collected tested positive for A. astaci using a rnDNA ITS-PCR test. We also performed an AFLP-PCR analysis on 19 isolates, and found that all iso- lates belong to genotype D. These isolates exhibited similar properties, i.e., adaptation to warm temperatures. We demonstrate, for the first time, the transmission of A. astaci geno- type D to indigenous European populations of crayfish, and confirm that the properties of ad- aptation to warm water temperatures seem to be a specific character of genotype D. The results of this work emphasize once more the need of controlling invasive species and its trade, since they can carry harmful pathogens with specific adaptations or increased viru- lence in new environments. ª 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The British Mycological Society. Introduction Aphanomyces astaci Shikora (Oomycetes) is a fungal-like organ- ism that is specialized to parasitize freshwater crayfish (Unestam 1969a, b; Di eguez-Uribeondo et al. 2009). This para- site causes the so called ‘crayfish plague’, a disease that has devastated the indigenous European populations of crayfish (for review Holdich 2002). Because of its high impact and rapid spread, A. astaci has been listed among the one hundred of the world’s worst invasive alien species (Lowe et al. 2004). This pathogen is endemic to North America where it is believed to have coevolved with their hosts (Unestam & Weiss 1970; * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 91 420 30 17; fax: þ34 91 420 01 57. E-mail address: dieguez@rjb.csic.es (J. Di eguez-Uribeondo). journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/funbio fungal biology xxx (2013) 1 e9 1878-6146/$ e see front matter ª 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The British Mycological Society. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2013.10.007 Please cite this article in press as: Rezinciuc S, et al., AFLP-PCR and RAPD-PCR evidences of the transmission of the pathogen Aphanomyces astaci (Oomycetes) to wild populations of European crayfish from the invasive crayfish species, Procambarus clarkii, Fungal Biology (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2013.10.007