Abstract
Phylogenetic relationships of several strains within the Fusarium oxysporum species complex and two related species from maize were used to test whether phylogenies inferred from nuclear!encoded translation elongation factor EF!0a and mitochondrial small subunit "mtSSU# ribosomal RNA gene sequences are concordant with one derived from random ampli_ed polymorphic DNA "RAPD# characters[ Results of a partition!homogeneity test "PHT# indicated that the EF!0a and the mtSSU rDNA data!sets are highly homogeneous "P 9[88# and could be analysed as a combined data!set[ On the basis of the results of the PHT\ the three RAPD partitions were also analysed as a combined data!set[ However\ the PHT revealed con~ict between the nucleotide and RAPD data "P 9[990#[ In addition\ results of a t!test showed that the consistency\ retention and rescaled consistency indices obtained with the nucleotide sequence data were signi_cantly higher than those obtained with the RAPD data[ The t!tests of the RAPD data also showed that these indices were signi_cantly higher when using the 04! mer M02 RAPD primer compared with the two 09!mer primers[ Although homoplasy was much greater for the RAPD data than for the DNA sequence data\ topo! logically similar trees were inferred from both data!sets[ However\ the RAPD data appears to be ~awed because it failed to resolve the two major clades of the F[ oxysporum complex and trees constructed from the RAPD decamer primers completely failed to resolve the F[ oxysporum complex[ An unnamed phylogenetically distinct species "Fusarium sp[# intermediate between the F[ oxysporum complex and Fusarium redolens was identi_ed in trees inferred from the DNA sequence and RAPD data[