Development and use of microsatellite markers to study diversity, reproduction and population genetic structure of the cereal pathogen Ramularia collo-cygni.

•Ten novel microsatellite markers have been developed for Ramularia collo-cygni.•The markers have been used to analyse genetic structure of two Rcc populations.•Both of the studied populations of Rcc exhibit high genotypic diversity.•No linkage disequilibrium was found among loci in both populations.•There was no local population structure within both studied fields.•Populations of Rcc possess high potential for evolutionary adaptation.