GENETICS OF PHYTOPATHOGENIC FUNGI: VIRULENCE OF COLOR AND NUTRITIONALLY DEFICIENT MUTANTS OF PENICILLIUM ITALICUM AND PENICILLIUM DIGITATUM

Abstract

Prototrophic color and auxotrophic mutants of Penicillium italicum and P. digitatum, causal agents of citrus fruit rot, were obtained by irradiating conidia with ultraviolet light. Avirulent mutants caused a necrosis but not an obvious rot at the site of inoculation in orange rind. Avirulence was not necessarily associated with a specific alteration in the color of sporulating colonies or with the tested nutritional requirements. Supplementing necrotic lesions with the compounds required by the avirulent auxotrophic mutants enhanced growth but did not cause an obvious rot. Although heterocaryons of P. italicum involving avirulent auxotrophic strains were weakly virulent, the corresponding diploid strains were as virulent as the haploid prototrophic parental strain. Prototrophic segregants from the diploid strains were virulent. Avirulence was not related to the inability of the avirulent mutants to grow at the site of inoculation. It is probable that more than one locus may be responsible for the loss of virulence.