Sequence Analysis of the Internal Transcribed Spacer of Ribosomal DNA in the Genus Rhizopus

The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions including the 3'-end of 18S rRNA gene, 5.8S rRNA gene and the 5'-end of the 28S rRNA gene of Rhizopus spp. were amplified by PCR and analyzed by DNASIS program. Length polymorphism of these region ranged from 564 bp in R. oryzae to 789bp in R. stolonifer. The length and sequence of 5.8S was very conserved with 154~155 bp. The sequence of ITS2 was more variable than that of ITS1. The base substitution rates were ranged from 0 to 0.6069 per site, and higher rate was found in R. stolonifer. In general, transition was usually more frequent than transversion. On the basis of sequencing results, four groups were clustered with value of 61.9% similarity; R. oryzae, R. microspores, R. homothallicus, and R. stolonifer groups.