Molecular and morphometric identification of plant parasitic nematodes

During a nematode survey in vineyards of the Veneto region (Italy), several soil samples were collected. On morphological and morphometric studies, a population from Conegliano Veneto was preliminarily identified as X. rivesi Dalmasso 1969. To support the morphological diagnosis, a molecular characterization of X. rivesi from Italy using the D2-D3 expansion segments of the 28S rDNA and the ITS containing region was undertaken. PCR-RFLP analyses were also performed to determine species-specific patterns for the Italian population of the nematode. Neighbor-Joining, Minimum Evolution and Maximum Parsimony analyses were used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within X. rivesi and other Xiphinema species.