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Mycotoxicology

Fumonisin B₁ Production by Strains from Different Mating Populations of Gibberella fujikuroi (Fusarium Section Liseola). John F. Leslie, Associate professor Department of Plant Pathology, Throckmorton Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506-5502; Ronald D. Plattner(2), Anne E. Desjardins(3), and Carla J. R. Klittich(4). (2)(3)National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 1815 University Street, Peoria, IL 61604; (4)Former postdoctoral research associate, Department of Plant Pathology, Throckmorton Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506-5502, Present address: Rhône Poulenc Agro AB, P.O. Box 11555, S-100 61 Stockholm, Sweden. Phytopathology 82:341-345. Accepted for publication 23 October 1991. 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, 1992. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-82-341.

Fungal isolates of Gibberella fujikuroi are economically important as plant pathogens and as producers of mycotoxins. The species can be subdivided into six distinct mating populations that probably represent different biological species. Members of four of these mating populations—A, D, E, and F—are commonly found in asymptomatic and diseased maize and sorghum plants. We tested 56 G. fujikuroi isolates that had been collected in Kansas and assigned to mating populations for their ability to produce the mycotoxin fumonisin B₁. When grown on maize grain under laboratory conditions, members of the A population could produce an average of 1,786 ppm of the toxin, members of the D population averaged 636 ppm, the E population 33 ppm, and the F population 7.5 ppm. Strain-related variability in fumonisin B₁ production was relatively large in the A and D populations (307–4,425 and 4–2,618 ppm, respectively) and relatively low in the E and F populations (6–146 and 2–35 ppm, respectively). The level of fumonisin B₁ produced by the different isolates did not appear to be related to geographic origin, host, or disease status of the host plant. Our data are generally consistent with previous work on this mycotoxin, but the differences between the A and F mating populations are significant because both of these groups share the Fusarium moniliforme anamorph.