Affiliation:
1. Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584CT Utrecht, The Netherlands
2. Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
3. Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Department of Microbial Ecology, Wageningen, 6708 PB, The Netherlands
Abstract
Sorghum production is seriously threatened by the root parasitic weeds (RPWs) Striga hermonthica and Striga asiatica in sub-Saharan Africa. Research has shown that Striga control depends on eliminating its seed reserves in soil. Several species of the genus
Fusarium (Nectriaceae, Hypocreales) , which have been isolated from diseased Striga plants have proven to be highly pathogenic to all developmental stages of these RPWs. In the present study 439 isolates of Fusarium spp. were found associated with soils from
Sorghum growing fields, Sorghum rhizosphere, or as endophytes with Sorghum roots and seeds, or as endophytes of Striga stems and seeds. Based on multi-locus phylogenies of combinations of CaM, tef1, rpb1 and rpb2 alignments, and morphological
characteristics, 42 species were identified, including three species that are newly described, namely F. extenuatum and F. tangerinum from Sorghum soils, and F. pentaseptatum from seed of Striga hermonthica. Using a previously published AFLP-derived
marker that is specific to detect isolates of F. oxysporum f. sp. strigae, an effective soil-borne biocontrol agent against Striga, we also detected the gene in several other Fusarium species. As these isolates were all associated with the Striga/Sorghum pathosystem,
the possibility of horizontal gene transfer among these fusaria will be of interest to further investigate in future.
Publisher
Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute
Subject
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous),Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous),Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics,Microbiology
Cited by
4 articles.
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