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Cyanide Tolerance in Stemphylium loti. W. E. Fry, National Science Foundation Fellow, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850; R. L. Millar, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850. Phytopathology 61:494-500. Accepted for publication 16 November 1970. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-61-494.

Stemphylium loti was more tolerant of cyanide than were three other Stemphylium spp. Cyanide tolerance was measured by colony growth on liquid and solid media for all four species, and by germination of conidia and oxygen uptake of conidia for S. loti and S. sarcinaeforme. Stemphylium loti adapted to cyanide. Adaptation was characterized by stimulated oxygen uptake upon exposure to cyanide, by an ability to remove or transform cyanide, and by increased germinability of conidia when incubated in cyanide. Stemphylium sarcinaeforme developed an ability to respire in low levels of cyanide, but not to remove or transform cyanide, nor did conidia exhibit increased germinability in cyanide upon prior exposure to cyanide. Oxygen uptake by mitochondria from adapted S. loti cells was not stimulated by cyanide.