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A novel homothallic variety of Agaricus bisporus comprises rare tetrasporic isolates from Europe

     INRA, Unité de Recherches sur les Champignons BP 81, 33883 Villenave d'Ornon cedex, France

Christophe Desmerger

     Centre Technique du Champignon, Munet, 49400 Distré, France

Ioanna Theochari ²

     NAGREF, Laboratory of Edible Fungi, 41110 Larissa, Greece

Among 400 wild specimens of A. bisporus collected in Europe, only three were tetrasporic. In the case of two of them from France, a previous study showed that one was homokaryotic and hypothetically belonged to a homothallic entity while the other was heterokaryotic and possibly resulted from hybridization between a member of this entity and a classical bisporic strain. A third tetrasporic specimen recently was discovered in Greece. Morphological and genetic comparisons, using alloenzymatic markers, molecular markers and ITS polymorphisms, reveal that this third specimen is homokaryotic and belongs, with the homokaryotic specimen from France, to the same entity. Dissimilarity analysis confirms the hybrid origin of the heterokaryotic specimen. Varietal status is proposed for this homothallic, highly homogeneous entity, and A. bisporus var. eurotetrasporus is described. This novel variety clearly differs from var. bisporus by its tetrasporic basidia and from var. burnettii by its longer spores. It has a complex story because it can interbreed with var. bisporus and shares the same habitat; however, because of its homothallic life cycle and its partial intersterility, it is probably in the process of speciation.

Key words: Agaricus bisporus var. eurotetrasporus, basidial spore number variation, cultivated mushroom, evolution, homothallism, ITS polymorphism

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