VIEW ARTICLE

Physiology and Biochemistry

Ethylene Production by Cultures of Cylindrocladium floridanum and C. scoparium. Paige E. Axelrood-McCarthy, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University and USDA, SEA-AR Ornamental Plants Research Laboratory, Corvallis 97331; R. G. Linderman, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University and USDA, SEA-AR Ornamental Plants Research Laboratory, Corvallis 97331. Phytopathology 71:825-830. Accepted for publication 12 December 1980. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1981. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-71-825.

Ethylene was produced by Cylindrocladium floridanum and C. scoparium in culture. Production was methionine-dependent and occurred during the active growth of the fungus, beginning shortly after spore germination. Ethylene was produced by Cylindrocladium both from actively growing mycelium (direct) and nonenzymically from culture filtrates (indirect). Both direct and indirect systems were light mediated, and appeared to involve a fungal metabolite, a flavinlike compound (FLC), either contained in the mycelium or secreted into the medium. The FLC in culture filtrates exhibited light-absorbing properties similar to flavin mononucleotide, a known cofactor in at least one reported ethylene-generating pathway. Another possible system (either direct or indirect) of ethylene production by Cylindrocladium occurred in the dark, exhibited a production lag, and produced less ethylene than the light-mediated system.