title: Differentiation of Fusarium subglutinans f. sp. pini by histone gene sequence data.
abstract: Fusarium subglutinans f. sp. pini (= F. circinatum) is a pathogen of pine and is one of eight mating populations (i.e., biological species) in the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex. This species complex includes F. thapsinum, F. moniliforme (= F. verticillioides), F. nygamai, and F. proliferatum, as well as F. subglutinans associated with sugarcane, maize, mango, and pineapple. Differentiating these forms of F. subglutinans usually requires pathogenicity tests, which are often time-consuming and inconclusive. Our objective was to develop a technique to differentiate isolates of F. subglutinans f. sp. pini from other isolates identified as F. subglutinans. We sequenced the histone H3 gene from a representative set of Fusarium isolates. The H3 gene sequence was conserved and contained two introns in all the isolates studied. From both the intron and the exon sequence data, we developed a PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique that reliably distinguishes F. subglutinans f. sp. pini from the other biological species in the G. fujikuroi species complex.
authors.affiliation: Tree Pathology Co-operative Programme, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, Departments of Genetics, Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. emma.steenkamp@fabi.up.ac.za
authors.forename: E T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Steenkamp
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Wingfield
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Coutinho
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wingfield
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Marasas
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D005670:Fusarium / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D006657:Histones / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014197:Trees / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D006657:Histones