Abstract

Fungivores nematodes are the main nematodes that live in the soil are freeliving fungivores essential for the soil food web, biological control, and ecological study. This species must be identified correctly because it is distributed widely in soil. Therefore, this molecular study was conducted in 2018 at the Limpopo University to identify the fungivores nematodes from South Africa's soils using 28S rDNA marker. The recovered nematode was extracted using the tray method, and then its DNA was extracted using the chelex method. The nematode was identified as A. avenae. Afterward, 28S rDNA was amplified using specific primers to identify the nematode. The Nblast analysis based on the large subunit ribosomal DNA showed South African A. avenae had 96% similarity (MT857724; JQ348400; AB368536) with Chinese, Czech Republic, and Japanese populations, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis using maximum likelihood placed this species with those molecularly identified as A. avenae in the same clade with highly supported (100) bootstrap values. In conclusion, this species was identified using 28S rDNA however, use of other rDNA markers such as 18S and ITS rDNA for a better understanding of Aphelenchus phylogeny is recommended.