In the present study, the homology relationships among fragments amplified by ERIC (Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus) and REP (Repetitive Extragenic Palindromic) primers in Drechslera avenae and Stemphylium solani causing leaf blotch and black spot of oats and leaf blight of cotton, respectively, were investigated by Southern hybridization followed by DNA sequencing. ERIC- and REP-PCR were performed for 24 isolates of D. avenae and 33 isolates of S. solani. The banding patterns obtained were transferred to nylon membranes and a total of 16 fragments, four ERIC and four REP bands from each fungus, used as probes. The hybridization and DNA sequencing revealed a low degree of similarity among the bands indicating that the regions amplified by these primers are not repetitive and that the primers anneal at random regions in the genomes of D. avenae and S. solani. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. on behalf of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies.21115155