This research work had as objective to study the possible heterokaryosis occurrence through the fusion of mushrooms originating from nests of different species of cutter ants collected in different areas of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, using the AFLP technique. Ten fusion groups were accomplished, from which two did not perform a colony coalition. After the fusion occurred, disks of mycelium of the colonies intersection area and fusion external areas were collected, the extraction of DNA and standardization was performed. PCR reactions were tested using 21 AFLP primer combinations, from which three were selected because they presented larger polymorphism and consistence. The molecular data were transformed at binary head office and analyzed by the statistical program NTSYS v. 2.1. The three combinations of primers generated 245 polymorphic bands. The average similarity of the genotypes varied from 0.03 to 0.18 in all the fusions. The large genetic distance found among the organisms possibly happened due to three factors: the possible heterokaryosis occurrence among the mushrooms; the use of mushrooms originating from different species of ants and; from different areas. This work suggests that the heterokaryosis can represent an important role in the life cycle of this mushroom, since it multiplies by clonal propagation and due to the absence of fructification.
vegetative compatibility; molecular markers; variability; AFLP
